pile

Meaning

Noun

1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
2. (informal) A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
3. A mass formed in layers.
4. A funeral pile; a pyre.
5. (slang) A large amount of money.
6. A large building, or mass of buildings.
7. A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
8. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
9. A beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground, usually as one of a group that constitutes a foundation.
10. An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.
11. (obsolete) The reverse (or tails) of a coin.
12. A list or league

Verb

1. (often, transitive) To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate
2. (transitive) To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
3. (transitive) To add something to a great number.
4. (transitive) (of vehicles) To create a hold-up.
5. (transitive) To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.
6. (intransitive) To form a pile or heap.

Verb

To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.

Verb

To give a pile to; to make shaggy.

Synonyms

heap

stack

mass

mound

pile up

accumulate

accumulation

heap up

crowd

nap

bunch

multitude

collection

mountain

⛰️

bundle

stake

amass

load

pole

group

gather

down

rampart

stilt

batch

agglomeration

spile

assemble

lot

agglomerate

layer

hoard

hemorrhoid

swarm

wad

collect

flock

stack up

cumulus

pot

pack

lump

make

arrange

body

big bucks

jam

hair

hatful

great deal

Translations

tas

montón

pila

Haufen

entasser

pile

pila

pila

mucchio

cumulo

catasta

Stapel

pilha

hoop

Pfahl

Pronounced as (IPA)

/paɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pyle

Inherited from Middle English: pile

Inherited from Old English: pīl

Cognate with Dutch: pijl

Cognate with German: Pfeil

In summary

From Middle English pyle, from Old French pile, from Latin pīla (“pillar, pier”).