dogpile

1 of 2

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

2 of 2

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

This, in addition to the numerous reporters commenting on each other’s updates, was nothing more than a dogpile. —Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 19 July 2024

One mistake in a championship game can be the difference between a loss and a dogpile on the pitcher’s mound. —John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 May 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