Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pile
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.
(Zool.)
A covering of hair or fur.
Pile
,Noun.
[AS.
pīl
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.
Pile
,Verb.
T.
To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.
To sheet-pile
, to make sheet piling in or around. See
Sheet piling
, under 2nd Piling
.1.
A mass of things heaped together; a heap;
as, a
pile
of stones; a pile
of wood.2.
A mass formed in layers;
as, a
. pile
of shot3.
A funeral pile; a pyre.
Dryden.
4.
A large building, or mass of buildings.
The
pile
o’erlooked the town and drew the fight. Dryden.
6.
(Elec.)
A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; – commonly called
Volta's pile
, voltaic pile
, or galvanic pile
. ☞ The term is sometimes applied to other forms of apparatus designed to produce a current of electricity, or as synonymous with battery; as, for instance, to an apparatus for generating a current of electricity by the action of heat, usually called a thermopile.
Pile
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Piled
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Piling
.] 1.
To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; – often with up;
“Hills piled on hills.” as, to
. pile
up woodDryden.
“Life piled on life.” Tennyson.
The labor of an age in
piled
stones. Milton.
2.
To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
To pile arms
To pile muskets
(Mil.)
, to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms.
Webster 1828 Edition
Pile
PILE
,Noun.
1.
A heap; a mass or collection of things in a roundish or elevated form; as a pile of stones; a pile of bricks; a pile of wood or timber; a pile of ruins.2.
A collection of combustibles for burning a dead body; as a funeral pile.3.
A large building or mass of buildings; an edifice. The pile o'erlook'd the town and drew the sight.
4.
A heap of balls or shot laid in horizontal courses, rising into a pyramidical form.PILE
,Noun.
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 or other superstructure. The stadthouse in Amsterdam is supported by piles.2.
One side of a coin; originally, a punch or puncheon used in stamping figures on coins, and containing the figures to be impressed. Hence the arms-side of a coin is called the pile, and the head the cross, which was formerly in the place of the head. Hence cross and pile.3.
In heraldry, an ordinary in form of a point inverted or a stake sharpened.PILE
,Noun.
PILE
,Noun.
PILE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To bring into an aggregate; to accumulate; as, to pile quotations or comments.2.
To fill with something heaped.3.
To fill above the brim or top.4.
To break off the awns of threshed barley. [Local.]