I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bundle/pile of laundry
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a pile of laundry waiting to be put away
a pile/stack of boxes
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There was a pile of boxes in the street outside the house.
load/pile of crap ( also bunch of crap American English )
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The game was a load of crap.
load/pile of crap ( also bunch of crap American English )
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That’s a bunch of crap! I never said that.
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He came out with a load of crap about how he’d tried to call me yesterday.
piece/pile/load etc of shit
pile driver
pile of ironing
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I’m tired and there’s still a pile of ironing to do.
the bottom of the ladder/pile/heap (= the lowest position in society, an organization etc )
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Immigrants were at the bottom of the pile.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
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Maria went to the University of Krakow Business School and ended up making an even bigger pile of money.
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They are succeeding by turning big piles into little piles, not the other way around.
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I wondered how big the pile at home would have to be to last the year.
deep
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A deep pile in your living room!
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A deep pile Raking ashes into a pile would then be automatically reinforced.
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On this occasion the officials thrown from the window managed to survive, since they landed in deep piles of castle refuse.
great
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Twentythree stainless steel dishes, Denby casseroles and Pyrex serving sets have gone to that great built-in-obsolescence pile in the sky.
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Though the streets had been cleared, the plow had knocked an even greater pile of snow on to the vehicle.
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A great pile of felled Trees.
huge
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Bert started to move a huge pile of cardboard boxes which had once housed a variety of motor spares.
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Outside, the huge piles of snow are melting.
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And heaped up in one corner, almost touching the ceiling, was a huge pile of junk.
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I was allowed to play in a huge pile of white sand and to melt wire with a hot soldering gun.
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Where it was melting a huge pile of boulder clay was built up, as a terminal moraine.
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The outcome is likely to be a huge pile of dead birds and further alienation.
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It seemed a long time since we had first set eyes on that huge pile of posts and wire in the farmyard.
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He had a huge pile of paper cuttings etc.
large
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A truck appeared, and rocks and stones were emptied in a large pile .
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In the old system, that would have been a single, homogenized function located in a single large functional pile somewhere.
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But, before he could say anything, Mrs Danby emerged from round a large pile of tins of tuna-fish.
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There was a large pile of bones in the yard, going green with mould, which were eventually sent for processing.
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And in its place, stacked high in the subterranean vault, was a large pile of guns and ammunition.
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On her right hand she had a large pile of blanks.
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Which means you end up with a larger pile of results from your search.
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More obvious signs might be a large pile of empty bottles, the smell of drink, or unwashed glasses.
little
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He pulled off his work jeans and threw them on to the little pile in the corner.
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They are succeeding by turning big piles into little piles, not the other way around.
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Still guarding his little pile of sticks no doubt, or even jumping over the broom with a Romany.
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She averted her eyes from the pathetic little piles of unsold merchandise in the grocery store.
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Place left his little pile with his sister, she kept it under the floorboards.
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And in the morning when I went into the bathroom, there was a little pile of something beside my toothbrush.
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Two of the black lacquer cabinets had been opened and china lay in little piles outside them on the carpet.
neat
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Books and papers in neat rows and piles crammed all the available space between floor and ceiling.
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I picked up the neat pile of clothing and placed it on the chair near the stove.
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It included, for example, a neat pile of bullets, the artist being flown in to do the piling.
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I tried the next drawer, which was filled with neat piles of nylon underpants in a quite large old-lady style.
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Wrapped in copious instruction leaflets and next to a neat pile of syringes, formidable quantities of snakebite serum had thoughtfully been provided.
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I wanted to pick up the neat pile of paper lying on the bed and fling it into the air.
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The room has remained untouched, its files and papers in the same neat piles the actor had left them in.
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A long, rather stark couch held neat piles of clean kandoras and white head scarves which were laid there daily.
small
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A small pile of cards lay before her, now horribly familiar.
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One is a small pile of undated photographs I have from my early childhood.
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He knelt down to place a small pile of change in her hands.
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There was no one in the office. just small piles of handbills on a table.
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Bodie upturned the waste bin and sorted through the small pile of chewing-gum wrappers, empty cigarette packets, and cigarette butts.
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As she worked, adding to the pitifully small pile , she could hear Travis talking on the radio behind her.
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Up behind the engine, two baggage handlers were loading a small pile of boxes.
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On the floor besides Zach's bed was a small pile of books.
thick
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Folly slipped out of bed and wriggled her toes in the thick , silky pile of the carpet.
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The situation is improved by adding velvet curtains, acoustic tiles and a thick pile carpet.
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He lay back on his thick pile of cushions and chuckled.
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She saw feet sinking into the thick pile of the new rugs whose abstract patterns evoked the work of contemporary artists.
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This is ideal for thick yarns and pile knitting, but not for ordinary work.
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Collected under her hands they made a thick pile .
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Her feet sank into the thick pile of the carpet.
■ NOUN
cash
▪
Meanwhile, Vistec is making the most of the recession and has a Pounds 4m cash pile .
■ VERB
add
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Then, the extra females-some of them mated by the fortunate male-wander in and add to the pile .
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Q: How should the material be added to the pile ?
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He marched up to the desk and handed over two slender files to add to the pile at Spatz's elbow.
leave
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The confused Night Goblins scattered leaving piles of dead in their wake.
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Other days I think how close they came to destroying the Union and leaving it in a pile of ashes.
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She left the pile on the desk where she had found it, and made her way to where Bill was sitting.
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The two of them wrote it all down on numbered placards they left with each pile .
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Brick by brick, plasterboard by plasterboard ... until all we had left was a pile of rubble.
lie
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Ideally, the carpet should lie with the pile running away from the main, or only, window in the room.
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Jinju lay curled atop a pile of grass and weeds, neither crying nor complaining, a grin frozen on her face.
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Before him lay a pile of dead Tilean crossbowmen, polluting the sacred soil of Bretonnia with their inferior foreign blood.
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The guts lay in a smoking pile beneath the crossed feet.
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Behind, lay a pile of chained human bones, a slumped fettered skeleton.
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On a drafting table against one wall lay a pile of ships' blueprints: cross-sectioned schooners, submarines, slave galleys.
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Ace's blood-soaked jacket lay on top of the pile .
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But he'd probably be dead, frozen, lying under a pile of leaves, dead from starvation.
look
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Government ministers seem to think that they look at a pile of brochures.
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He looked through the pile , trying to decide which one to pick.
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He looked through the pile of engraved cards on his escritoire.
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It looks like a pile of dead leaves in there.
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Objectively I looked like a pile of coathangers, but objectivity was some-thing I had lost long ago.
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She looked over at the pile of burned clothing she had shed like a snake's skin, and shuddered.
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I looked at the pile of dead, and shivered.
place
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He knelt down to place a small pile of change in her hands.
put
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Similar sizes were put together and the piles were symmetrical.
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Jesse Johnson hopped out of his dory and put himself be-tween the pile of bodies and the wharf.
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The next time they were counted they were put in piles of four.
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The secrecy envelope is put in a pile with other such envelopes that are later opened and the ballots counted.
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Do not put piles of books or magazines up the sides of the stairs.
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Q: What can I put in the compost pile ?
sort
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FitzAlan's brother-in-law sat there, sorting through piles of official-looking documents.
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When I entered our room I found Mum had down two more vases and was sorting out a pile of pawn tickets.
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Bodie upturned the waste bin and sorted through the small pile of chewing-gum wrappers, empty cigarette packets, and cigarette butts.
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I came home, put them on the floor and they virtually sorted themselves into two piles .
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One was occupied by a plump woman in her forties, who was briskly sorting through a pile of letters.
stack
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Components were stacked in piles all over the factory floor like the contents of an attic.
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Ready to fire, the shell was stacked on a pile near the gun crew.
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When they had sorted the collection completely, they stacked each set in piles .
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Inside the truck I could see what looked like a thousand frozen turkeys stacked up like a pile of stones.
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During the morning the accumulated household junk had been stacked in piles beside the steps.
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Bunches of bananas are stacked in tidy piles .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a pile of dirty dishes
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a thick red pile carpet
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Can you separate those out into two piles - A to L and M to Z, please?
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Clare was having too much fun playing in the leaf pile to come inside.
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Greg carried the pile of ironed shirts upstairs.
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Her office is a terrible mess - there are piles of papers all over the floor.
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Put those letters on the other pile .
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The books were arranged in neat piles on her desk.
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The folded laundry was separated into three piles.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And judging by the prodigious pile of diatribes posted in the last year, a lot of folks are taking advantage.
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Eventually it carried out a more temporary repair, costing £500 000, which entailed replacing 30 of the 113 wooden piles.
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He found himself in enormous buildings, with a labyrinth of rooms, and he was lost in the pile .
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Helen noticed a red rug, piles of books on the floor, white eyelet cafe curtains on the windows.
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I loved to pick through trash piles and collect empty bottles, tin cans with Pretty labels, and discarded magazines.
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Soon, all that is left is a pile of bones.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
high
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The passengers were perched atop sacks of rice piled high in the back of the vehicle.
in
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There were four of us piling in on it.
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Xerox was literally synonymous with copying machines; the revenues piled in and the profits piled up.
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Clouds were piling in , and there was more rain on the way.
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We breakfasted, then all piled in .
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All kinds of people Molassi had been winding up about their music taste started piling in .
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Ben Turner, 18, admitted knocking him down but said he tried to stop the others from piling in .
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Pierre came to pick them up in the long Mercedes and they piled in with all their bags and appurtenances.
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So it was the bait piled in by J.J. and myself the first night of a season in the early 1970s.
on
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Then we all piled on to the team bus.
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On Saturday, Dole piled on, using Napolitano to blast Clinton judicial appointees as soft on crime.
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If the though sounds tempting but you fear the pounds will pile on , think again.
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Unfortunately, the words seemed to be taunting, or piling on .
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Yet even that is not enough: Danielewski piles on even more narrative frames, ultimately to the novel's detriment.
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Even the wind experts are piling on .
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Loopy Lil went on piling more and more things haphazardly on to the tray.
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The pounds pile on as they break for split-pea soup, munch chocolate-chip cookies, dine on shrimp and pasta.
up
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He piled up snow and covered the remains.
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That snow piled up outside windows in Washington and elsewhere in the Northeast may slow business even more.
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The pledges of loyalty are piling up .
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Their bodies piled up in the streets before the authorities could muster the men needed to bury them.
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Oh, the points he is piling up .
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He stroked the steering wheel, words piling up .
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The station has been converted to burn confiscated marijuana which has been piling up in the warehouses of the local police forces.
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As the corkscrew meats accumulate in the cup and the delicately colored shells pile up at my feet, examples multiply.
■ NOUN
agony
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He had four chances of piling on the agony for the Londoners but could not find a way past keeper Bob Bolder.
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Woosnam piled on the agony with four successive birdies.
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It piled on the agony for Glasgow, who had passed up another chance two minutes before the break.
car
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They all piled into their cars and borrowed tractors, and headed for the Stanlow refinery.
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They piled into the car and headed off to the local market to sell the shot glasses and recoup cash.
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They burst into laughter and we piled once again into his car for another search.
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The drivers piled them into cars and drove off to return shortly for another load.
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Quickly they piled into the car , which sped noisily and dangerously off through the quotidian traffic.
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Four kids from the Nashville, two girls and two boys, were piling into a car .
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We pile into the car as if embarking on a real motor trip.
hair
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A red-haired girl, her hair piled atop her head beneath a hat the shape of a butterfly, noticed him watching.
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Runnerup: Helen Hunt, hair piled up and wearing a sleek, shining Isaac Mizrahi.
head
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A red-haired girl, her hair piled atop her head beneath a hat the shape of a butterfly, noticed him watching.
plate
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He has a lot piled on his plate .
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Charles piled up his plate and sat on his own in the corner.
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Others simply pile their plates high with mountains of mashed potatoes and various meatless side dishes.
pound
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Most comfort eaters enjoy it while they're eating, but the downside is they soon start to pile on the pounds .
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To his relief the producers didn't want him to pile on the pounds .
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She did slim down a couple of years ago but has piled on the pounds again.
pressure
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Pressure Gornei piled on the pressure from the start and by the end of the contest Griffin's face was badly swollen.
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Move round him, piling on the pressure from different directions.
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Woodmill piled the pressure on and were finally rewarded with a Martin Shores goal with only thirty seconds left.
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And Walsh piled on the pressure to get promises of advertising business.
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They piled on the pressure to win handsomely by 30 shots.
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Bristol piled on fierce pressure and Middlesbrough paid for their lack of enterprise when Bristol equalised after 67 minutes.
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Say she enticed him into the woods and became demanding in every way and heavily emotional, piling on pressure .
snow
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She forced the sad and crushed skull below the snow and piled the ice above it.
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That snow piled up outside windows in Washington and elsewhere in the Northeast may slow business even more.
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With all that snow piling up outside it seemed like the only thing to do.
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Which brings us to the snow job piling up around the budget negotiations themselves.
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Winter snow piles on ice that covers streets and sidewalks.
table
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She flittered in the kitchen, piling crockery on to the table . plates overflowed with party food.
top
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His hair is reddish-brown, streaked with grey and piled on top of his head.
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Instead, he piled loss on top of loss.
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Human beings are the same: they're piled on top of one another.
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One set of regents piles on top of another.
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It was the way one thing had piled on top of another that did it.
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The girl was lying on her side with her pink leotard and blue corduroy pants piled on top of her.
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The animals pile one on top of another in a confusion of life.
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For them, new losses would be piled on top of existing losses.
■ VERB
begin
▪
Guilty secrets begin to pile up that may be disclosed to no one else at all, not even friends or family.
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She kicked a cardboard box in his direction, and he began piling the leaves and petals inside.
continue
▪
So the dinosaurs could in theory have continued to pile on genetic advantages.
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Meanwhile, parts bound for the striking plants are continuing to pile up.
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Leeds continued to pile on the points as Iro burst through for loose forward Hanley to score a seventh try.
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We can continue to pile up such program models indefinitely.
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Across the city the flowers, teddy bears and other cuddly toys were continuing to pile up.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Dirty dishes were left piled in the sink.
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Gifts were piled under the Christmas tree.
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Has anyone else noticed that towels dry faster when you don't pile them in the middle of the floor?
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He piled his dirty laundry up just outside my door.
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Mattie piled her plate with food.
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We called the police when we noticed her newspapers and mail were piling up.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He piled up snow and covered the remains.
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He scooped out a hollow and lying down piled the leaves over him like a thick coverlet.
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He walked in and saw her sitting on the floor, piling books into a carton.
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His armour was piled not three yards away, arrayed ready to be donned at short notice.
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Recently it has started to pile up quite quickly.
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Storm clouds piling up against Black Hills to east.
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The girls who pile into the exhibition centre are usually accompanied by a flock of female relatives.
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This I corrected in a grocery store, piled with butter and big cheeses and shelves of pickles and bread.