“pile” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. a large mass of things ○ Look at that pile of washing. ○ The pile of plates crashed onto the floor. ○ The wind blew piles of dead leaves into the road. ○ He was carrying a great pile of books. 2. □ piles of a lot of (informal.) ○ They brought piles of food with them. ○ There’s no need to hurry, we’ve got piles of time. 3. a large post made of wood, metal or some other strong substance, pressed down into the earth to provide a support for something such as a building ○ They drove piles into the river bank to hold up the wharf. 4. the soft surface of some types of cloth, e.g. velvet, or of some types of carpet ○ Just feel the pile on these cushions. ○ We have put a thick pile carpet in the sitting room. ■ verb □ to pile, to pile up to put a lot of things into a pile ○ All the Christmas presents are piled under the tree. ○ Complaints are piling up about the service.

a sum of money; generally the whole of a man’s private means. A
term originally peculiar to Californian miners, in reference to their
accumulated dust and nuggets. American gamblers speak of “putting all
the PILE on” when they fancy anything very much. “To go the whole PILE”
runs level with our sporting phrase, “To go a raker.”

n. [L. pilus hair. Cf. Peruke.]
1. A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet. “Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.” Cowper.
2. (Zoöl.) A covering of hair or fur.

n. [L. pilum javelin. See Pile a stake.] The head of an arrow or spear. [Obs.] Chapman.

n. [AS. pil arrow, stake, L. pilum javelin; but cf. also L. pila pillar.]
1. A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. Tubular iron piles are now much used.
2. [Cf. F. pile.] (Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles. — Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles. — Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile. — Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake. — Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling. — Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic. — Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure.