pile

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Distributed around the base of the pile were a dozen or, more human skulls.

View all »
Definitions (97)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (22)

  1. noun A quantity of objects stacked or thrown together in a heap. See Synonyms at heap.
  2. noun Informal A large accumulation or quantity: a pile of trouble.
  3. noun Slang A large sum of money; a fortune: made their pile in the commodities market.
19 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (58)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (6)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (11)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • At the end of the driving by my steam hammer, the top of the pile was always found neat and smooth, indeed more so than when the driving began I may again revert to my interview with the Lords of the Admiralty on the occasion of my first meeting them at Devonport. —  James Nasmyth: Engineer, An Autobiography.
  • On the top of the pile was a fold of foolscap neatly headed “Agenda”. —  Traitor's Purse - Margery Allingham - Campion 11
  • On top of the pile was a deckle-edged sheet of notepaper scrawled with green ink. —  R. D. Wingfield - Frost at Christmas
  • In the pile was a heavy wrench Tink scooped up the wrench, whirled around and took a swing at his assailant. —  085 - The Spotted Men
  • Top of the pile is a great big deal being made about a new addition to the —  SPOnG.com
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 326 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

heap ·  stack ·  bit ·  bundle ·  mass ·  bag ·  handful ·  collection ·  quantity ·  fragment ·  row ·  layer

Used in the same contextWord Family

pile:   piles ·  piled ·  piling
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (9)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pīla, pillar.
  2. Middle English, from Old English pīl, shaft, stake, from Latin pīlum, spear, pestle.
  3. From Middle English piles, hair, plumage, probably from Middle Dutch pijl, fine hair, and Middle Low German pile, downy plumage, both from Latin pilus, hair.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from ME.pile, pil, from Anglo-Saxon pīl, a sharp stake or stick, as the gnomon of a dial, a stake or pile driven in the bed of a river, a prickle of the holly, a nail, also in comp. an arrow or dart (hilde-pīl, ‘war-dart,’ orthanc-pīl, ‘subtle dart,’ searo-pīl, ‘subtle dart,’ wælpīl, ‘slaughter-dart’); also pīle, a stake, in comp. temes-pīle; = D pijl = Middle Low German pīl = Old High German phīl, fī, Middle High German phīl, pfīl, German pifeil, an arrow, dart, bolt, shaft, = Icelandic pīla = Swedish Danish pil, an arrow, = OF.pile, masculine, a javelin, = Spanish Portuguese pilo, a javelin, = Italian pilo, a javelin, dart, pestle, from Latin pīlum, a javelin, a heavy javelin used by infantry, literally a pounder, pestle, contr. of *pislum, *pisulum (cf. pistillum, a pestle, later English pestle and pistil); cf. pīla, a mortar (from Anglo-Saxon pīle, a mortar, also in comp. pīl-stæf, a pestle, pīlstampe, a pestle, pīlstocc, a pestle, deriv. pīlstre, a pestle), contr. of *pisla, *pisula; from pisere, pinsere, pound, beat, bray, crush.
  2. from pile, n.
  3. from Middle English pile, pyle, a pile (tower or castle) (the alleged Anglo-Saxon *pīl, a pillar, is not authorized), from Old French pile, feminine, a pier, mole, pyramid, etc., French pile, a pier, mole, pile or reverse of a coin, = Spanish pila, a pillar, font, holy-water font, trough, = Old Italian pila, a dam, bowl of a font, laver, cistern, Italian pila, a flat pillar, trough, holy-water font, from Latinpīla, a pillar, a pier or mole of stone. Pile in the senses given below is generally included with pileʒ, ‘a heap,’ etc.; but see pile. Pile is also more or less confused in various senses with the related pile. Cf. peel.
  4. from Middle English pile, a heap (the Anglo-Saxon *pīl, a heap, is not authorized, being due to a misinterpretation), from Old French pile, feminine, a heap, pile, stack, French pile, a heap, voltaic pile, etc.; apparently a particular use of pile, a pier of stone, etc. (whence any pile of stones or other things, etc.); but according to some from Latin pĭla, a ball (cf. piles). Cf.pile.
  5. = Old French peil, poil, French poil = Provencal pel, pelh, peil = Spanish pelo = Portuguese pello = Italian pelo, from Latin pĭlus, a hair, the hair. Hence ult. (from Latin pilus) English depile, depilate, depilatory, pill, pelluce, plush, peruke (with periwig and wig), and prob. also pluck.
  6. from Middle English pilen, variant of pillen, ult. from Latin pĭlare, deprive of hair: see pill, of which pile is thus ult. a variant. Cf. peel, with which pile may have been confused.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/paɪl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

Recently looked up

Mau · disablement · subsidization · unpremeditated · assimilate

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich