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pile
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As a noun, pile means a mass of things heaped together. As a verb, it means lay or throw into a pile or heap.
Meanings of pile
35 meaningsnoun
A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
informalA group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
“When we were looking for a new housemate, we put the nice woman on the "maybe" pile, and the annoying guy on the "no" pile”
A mass formed in layers.
“a pile of shot”
A funeral pile; a pyre.
slangA large amount of money.
“He made a pile from that invention of his.”
A large building, or mass of buildings.
A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
architecturecivil engineeringA beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground.
An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.
A list or league
The head of an arrow or spear.
A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
heraldryOne of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
Older and rare meanings (2)
obsoleteThe reverse (or tails) of a coin.
obsoleteA dart; an arrow.
verb
To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate
“They were piling up wood on the wheelbarrow.”
To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
“We piled the camel with our loads.”
To add something to a great number.
(of vehicles) To create a hold-up.
militaryTo place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.
To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.
To give a pile to; to make shaggy.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).