PILE


Meaning of PILE in English

pile 1

/puyl/ , n. , v. , piled, piling .

n.

1. an assemblage of things laid or lying one upon the other: a pile of papers; a pile of bricks.

2. Informal. a large number, quantity, or amount of anything: a pile of work.

3. a heap of wood on which a dead body, a living person, or a sacrifice is burned; pyre.

4. a lofty or large building or group of buildings: the noble pile of Windsor Castle.

5. Informal. a large accumulation of money: They made a pile on Wall Street.

6. a bundle of pieces of iron ready to be welded and drawn out into bars; fagot.

7. reactor (def. 4).

8. Elect. See voltaic pile .

v.t.

9. to lay or dispose in a pile (often fol. by up ): to pile up the fallen autumn leaves.

10. to accumulate or store (often fol. by up ): to pile up money; squirrels piling up nuts against the winter.

11. to cover or load with a pile: He piled the wagon with hay.

v.i.

12. to accumulate, as money, debts, evidence, etc. (usually fol. by up ).

13. Informal. to move as a group in a more or less confused, disorderly cluster: to pile off a train.

14. to gather, accumulate, or rise in a pile or piles (often fol. by up ): The snow is piling up on the roofs.

[ 1350-1400; ME pila pillar, mole of stone ]

Syn. 1. collection, heap, mass, accumulation, stack, mound, batch.

pile 2

/puyl/ , n. , v. , piled, piling .

n.

1. a cylindrical or flat member of wood, steel, concrete, etc., often tapered or pointed at the lower end, hammered vertically into soil to form part of a foundation or retaining wall.

2. Heraldry. an ordinary in the form of a wedge or triangle coming from one edge of the escutcheon, from the chief unless otherwise specified.

3. Archery. the sharp head or striking end of an arrow, usually of metal and of the form of a wedge or conical nub.

4. in pile , Heraldry. (of a number of charges) arranged in the manner of a pile.

v.t.

5. to furnish, strengthen, or support with piles.

6. to drive piles into.

[ bef. 1000; ME; OE pil shaft pilum javelin ]

pile 3

/puyl/ , n.

1. hair.

2. soft, fine hair or down.

3. wool, fur, or pelage.

4. a fabric with a surface of upright yarns, cut or looped, as corduroy, Turkish toweling, velvet, and velveteen.

5. such a surface.

6. one of the strands in such a surface.

[ 1300-50; ME piles hair, plumage pilus hair; -i- short in L but long in Anglicized school pronunciation ]

pile 4

/puyl/ , n. Usually, piles .

1. a hemorrhoid.

2. the condition of having hemorrhoids.

[ 1375-1425; late ME pyles (pl.) pilae lit., balls. See PILL 1 ]

pile 5

/puyl/ , n.

the lower of two dies for coining by hand.

[ 1350-1400; ME pyl reverse of a coin pila, special use of L pila PILE 1 ]

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .