dogpile

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noun

dog·​pile ˈdȯg-ˌpī(-ə)l 

variants or dog pile or dog-pile

plural dogpiles or dog piles or dog-piles

1

: a mass of people who have piled on top of one another (as in celebrating a sports victory or while fighting)

… baseball teams celebrated with a dogpile—a heap of flailing arms, legs and gloves.

—Jami Frankenberry

Another video shows students swinging at each other, and at the bottom of the dogpile is a female teacher.

—Peyton Yager

Greg Anthony … exchanged words with Johnson and punched him in the face. Those two went to the floor with a dogpile on top of them.

—Zach Buckley

also : the act or an instance of forming a dogpile

When Sterling's reserves ran out the clock, the starters left the bench for a dog pile at mid-court. Later they doused Rowland with a celebratory water-bottle shower.

—Todd Fertig

2

: a barrage of criticism, insults, etc. directed at someone or something by many people

Sanders … recovered his footing after being surprised by the debate's first dogpile, over his non-Democratic voting record on guns.

—Dallas Morning News

Other tweets … added to the dogpile of mockery and memes.

—Lisa Suhay

dogpile

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verb

variants or less commonly dog-pile

dogpiled also dog-piled; dogpiling also dog-piling; dogpiles also dog-piles

1

transitive + intransitive : to form a dogpile around someone especially as part of a fight or celebration

Paga seems like a guy who had a passel of brothers at home, dogpiling and throwing each other across the room.

—Tim Keown

Florida dog-piled after it won the Southeastern Conference …

—Dirk Chatelain

He then collapsed to his knees and his team dogpiled him on the court.

—David Rice

2

transitive + intransitive of a group of people : to direct a barrage of criticism, insults, etc. at (someone or something)

Then, when [Tucker] Carlson suggested the U.S. military should be more focused on fighting, DOD brass dogpiled him.

—Anders Hagstrom

—often used with on

When the sci-fi teen romance … hit theaters back in February, critics dogpiled on it for being a flashy, derivative mess …

—Chris Nashawaty

We hate to dogpile on the Huskies, but Northeastern's 77-0 loss at UMass Saturday ranked as the most lopsided in the country that day.

—Michael Vega

Examples of dogpile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Liberty remember the pain and agony from leaving Barclays Center last October, watching Vegas celebrate with an emotional dogpile at mid-court. —Shane Young, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2024

The celebration on the field was subdued, no dogpile, no dancing, just veteran champions acting like champions. —Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024

Verb

Many of us may delight in dogpiling Rogan’s artistic failure online, but silence could be the stronger choice. —Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2024

When Pham crushed a backhand winner down the line, he was dogpiled by teammates. —Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1