n. 25B6; noun
a pile of stones : HEAP, stack, mound, pyramid, mass, quantity; collection, accumulation, assemblage, store, stockpile, hoard.
(informal) I've a pile of work to do : GREAT DEAL, lot, large quantity/amount, quantities, reams, mountain; abundance, cornucopia, plethora; informal load, heap, mass, slew, ocean, stack, ton; Brit. informal shedload; Austral./NZ informal swag.
(informal) he'd made his pile in the fur trade : FORTUNE, millions, billions; informal small fortune, bomb, packet, bundle, wad; Brit. informal loadsamoney.
a huge Victorian pile : MANSION, stately home, manor, manor house, country house; formal edifice.
25B6; verb
he piled up the plates : HEAP (UP), stack (up), put on top of each other.
he piled his plate with fried eggs : LOAD, heap, fill (up), lade, stack, charge, stock.
his debts were piling up : INCREASE, grow, mount up, escalate, soar, spiral, leap up, shoot up, rocket, climb, accumulate, accrue, build up, multiply.
we piled into the car : CROWD, climb, pack, squeeze, push, shove.
25A0; pile it on (informal) EXAGGERATE, overstate the case, make a mountain out of a molehill, overdo it, overplay it, over-dramatize; informal lay it on thick, lay it on with a trowel.