pile meaning and definition

PILE noun

Definition of pile (noun)

1. a collection of objects laid on top of each other
   • synonyms: agglomerate, cumulation, cumulus, heap, mound
2. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
   • "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money"
   • synonyms: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad
3. a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)
   • "she made a bundle selling real estate"; "they sank megabucks into their new house"
   • synonyms: big bucks, big money, bundle, megabucks
4. fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)
   • synonyms: down
5. battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta
   • synonyms: galvanic pile, voltaic pile
6. a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure
   • synonyms: piling, spile, stilt
7. the yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave
   • "for uniform color and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction"
   • synonyms: nap
8. a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy
   • synonyms: atomic pile, atomic reactor, chain reactor

PILE verb

Definition of pile (verb)

1. arrange in stacks
   • "heap firewood around the fireplace"; "stack your books up on the shelves"
   • synonyms: heap, stack
2. press tightly together or cram
   • "The crowd packed the auditorium"
   • synonyms: jam, mob, pack, throng
3. place or lay as if in a pile
   • "The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested"