pile
1 (pīl)
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pīla, pillar.]
noun
- A quantity of objects stacked or thrown together in a heap. See synonyms at heap
- Informal A large accumulation or quantity: a pile of trouble.
- Slang A large sum of money; a fortune: made their pile in the commodities market.
- A funeral pyre.
- A very large building or complex of buildings.
- A nuclear reactor.
- A voltaic pile.
verb: piled, pil·ing, piles.
transitive verb
- To place or lay in or as if in a pile or heap: piled books onto the table.
- To load (something) with a heap or pile: piled the table with books.
- To heap (something) in abundance: piled potato salad onto the plate.
intransitive verb
- To form a heap or pile.
- To move in, out, or forward in a disorderly mass or group: pile into a bus; pile out of a car.
phrasal verbs
- pile up
- To accumulate.
- Informal To undergo a serious vehicular collision.
