pile

1 of 6

noun (1)

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

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 adjective

pile

6 of 6

noun (4)

1
: a single hemorrhoid
2
piles plural : hemorrhoids

Examples of pile in a Sentence

Verb (2) piled all the clothes on the chair before putting them away the kids piled into the car Noun (2) a large pile of newspapers that needed to be disposed of a job that paid piles of money she made a pile in the stock market just before it headed south Noun (3) the lush pile of the carpeting a dog with such a dense pile that he never minded the cold
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
When the raging water receded, these cars were piled up near the Ohio Club seen to the right. Ray Hanley, arkansasonline.com, 18 Oct. 2024 The bodies piled up in Chicago, and most had Capone's fingerprints all over them. Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024 Storm debris was piled high in the streets surrounding where Biden spoke Sunday in St. Pete Beach. Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 13 Oct. 2024 An actual car cover, sourced from a parking garage in Paris, was draped and folded into a bustier gown anchored by large, initialed safety pins and paired with vinyl gloves and a necklace piled with vintage keyrings from the fleas. Tina Isaac-Goizé, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for pile 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of pile was in the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near pile

Cite this Entry

“Pile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pile. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

pile

1 of 6 noun
: 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

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
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
1
: a single hemorrhoid
2
piles plural : hemorrhoids
also : the condition of one affected with hemorrhoids

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