pile

1 of 6

noun (1)

ˈpī(-ə)l 

plural piles

1

: a long slender column usually of timber, steel, or reinforced concrete driven into the ground to carry a vertical load

… thus Ellet reported that the riverbed was … firm enough to drive piles into for the foundations of piers.

—Henry Petroski

2

: a wedge-shaped heraldic charge usually placed vertically with the broad end up

3

a

: a target-shooting arrowhead without cutting edges

b

[Latin pilum] : an ancient Roman foot soldier's heavy javelin

pile

2 of 6

verb (1)

piled; piling

transitive verb

: to drive piles into

pile

3 of 6

verb (2)

piled; piling

transitive verb

1

: to lay or place in a pile : stack

2

a

: to heap in abundance : load

piled potatoes on his plate

b

: to collect little by little into a mass

—usually used with up

intransitive verb

1

: to form a pile or accumulation

—usually used with up

2

: to move or press forward in or as if in a mass : crowd

piled into a car

pile

4 of 6

noun (2)

plural piles

1

a(1)

: a quantity of things or people heaped together

a pile of leaves

… TV cameras captured him in a pile of his celebrating teammates.

—Benjamin Hoffman

(2)

: a heap of wood for burning a corpse or a sacrifice

b

: any great number or quantity : lot

made a pile of money

2

: a large building or group of buildings

3

: a great amount of money : fortune

She made a pile in the stock market.

4

: reactor sense 3b

pile

5 of 6

noun (3)

1

: a coat or surface of usually short close fine furry hairs

2

: a velvety surface produced by an extra set of filling yarns that form raised loops which are cut and sheared

pileless

ˈpī(-ə)l-ləs 

adjective

pile

6 of 6

noun (4)

1

: a single hemorrhoid

2

piles plural : hemorrhoids

Synonyms

Verb (2)

• heap
• mound
• stack

Noun (2)

• cock
• heap
• hill
• mound
• mountain
• stack

Noun (3)

• down
• floss
• fluff
• fur
• fuzz
• lint
• nap

Examples of pile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

While Buffett led a simple life and piled up his wealth before pledging it to Bill Gates, Mr. Munger gave away much of his money directly to institutions such as Planned Parenthood, Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles and the Stanford University law school. —Paul Glader, Washington Post, 28 Nov. 2023

Questions continue to be raised by both residents and legislators about who is at fault and what could have been done to prevent the deadly wildfires in West Maui, as lawsuits continue to pile up and point fingers. —Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 28 Nov. 2023

Challenges against the company’s new contract, signed on Oct. 20 by Canada’s First Quantum, piled up in court amid public anger over the deal. —Elida Moreno, Valentine Hilaire, and Divya Rajagopal, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Nov. 2023

Covid-19 is settling in as a wintertime fixture, and infections are expected to rise again as the weather cools and holiday gatherings pile up. —Brianna Abbott and Jon Kamp, WSJ, 25 Nov. 2023

Be sure to pile a generous amount of the pillowy whipped topping on top of the pie, using your spatula to create those signature swoops. —Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 20 Nov. 2023

The evidence for Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus continues to pile up. —WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023

As the snow piled up in late February, Teri Ostlie did her best to continue shoveling. —Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023

Restaurant Fined $140K for Infractions Including Hiring Fake Priest to Hear Workers’ Confessions Photographs of the storage facility released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office show storage units within the facility piled with handbags and shoes. —Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023

Noun

But as problems for X—and Musk—pile up, the entrepreneur seems, as is typical, to welcome the attention. —Lauren Goode, WIRED, 30 Nov. 2023

Klimek: All around this group of people were piles of burning wood, but this wasn’t a campfire. —Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Nov. 2023

In the fall, berry seeds, apple chunks, rosehips, fur and hair, and the bones and scales of fish are visible in scat piles, producing telltale clues to a local bruin’s foraging habits. —Steven Hill, Field & Stream, 29 Nov. 2023

Long lines snaked out of gas stations in southern Gaza this week, and merchants in Gaza City set up food stalls amid piles of rubble. —Ben Hubbard, New York Times, 29 Nov. 2023

Despite the pause in fighting, Palestinians in Gaza are burning door frames and piles of garbage to cook, sleeping crammed into school classrooms and strangers’ homes, and scrambling onto trucks bringing aid from Egypt in a desperate grab for supplies, residents say. —Jared Malsin and Abeer Ayyoub, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2023

Cavallari also shared a photo of the family's trick-or-treating aftermath — two large piles of candy on the floor, which their pup sat right in between. —Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 25 Nov. 2023

There, piles of wooden pallets were stored alongside combustible liquids, which was in violation of state regulations. —Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2023

Some time later, David comes across a Christmas card from Natalie in a theoretically random pile. —Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 21 Nov. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, dart, quill, pole driven into the ground, from Old English pīl, from Latin pilum javelin

Verb (2)

Middle English, from pile entry 4

Noun (2)

Middle English pier of a bridge, stack, heap, from Middle French pille pier of a bridge, from Latin pila pillar

Noun (3)

Middle English, in plural piles "hair, plumage," borrowed from Anglo-French peil, pil "hair, coat of animal hair, cloth with thick nap" (continental Old French peil, poil "hair"), going back to Latin pilus "hair," of obscure origin

Note: Anglo-French pil for peil, apparently yielding long i in Middle English, is exceptional. The Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, proposes that the word is "partly" borrowed directly from Latin. Middle English Dictionary suggests borrowing from Middle Dutch pijl.

Noun (4)

Middle English pilez, plural, from Medieval Latin pili, perhaps from Latin pila ball

First Known Use

Noun (1)

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

Noun (3)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (4)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing pile

• at the bottom of the pile
• dog pile
• compost pile
• at the top of the pile
• pile drive
• pile in
• pile on
• pile (something) on
• pile out
• pile driver
• atomic pile

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• at the bottom of the pile
• dog pile
• compost pile
• at the top of the pile
• pile drive
• pile in
• pile on
• pile (something) on
• pile out
• pile driver
• atomic pile

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Kids Definition

pile

1 of 6 noun

ˈpī(ə)l 

: a long slender post usually of timber, steel, or concrete driven into the ground to support a load

pile

2 of 6 verb

piled; piling

: to drive piles into

pile

3 of 6 noun

1

a

: a quantity of things heaped together

b

: a heap of wood for burning a corpse or a sacrifice

2

: a great amount

3

: reactor sense 2

pile

4 of 6 verb

piled; piling

1

: to lay or place something in a pile : stack

2

: to heap in abundance : load

3

: to move or push forward hastily or in a disorganized way : crowd

piled into the car

pile

5 of 6 noun

1

: a coat or surface of usually short close fine furry hairs

2

: raised loops on the surface of a fabric which may be cut or uncut and which produce a velvety or fuzzy texture

piled adjective

pile

6 of 6 noun

1

: hemorrhoid sense 1

2

plural : hemorrhoid sense 2

Etymology

Noun

Old English pīl "dart, stake," from Latin pilum "spear, javelin"

Noun

Middle English pile "pier of a bridge, heap, stack," from early French pille "pier of a bridge," from Latin pila "pillar"

Noun

Middle English pile "furry surface," from early French peil, pil "hair, coat with thick nap," from Latin pilus "hair" — related to caterpillar see Word History at caterpillar

Noun

Middle English pile "hemorrhoid," perhaps derived from Latin pila "ball"

Medical Definition

pile

noun

ˈpī(ə)l 

1

: a single hemorrhoid

2

piles plural : hemorrhoids

also : the condition of one affected with hemorrhoids