Dictionary definitions
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pile
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, n. [L. pilum javelin. See Pile a stake.] The head of an arrow or spear. [Obs.] --Chapman. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, n. [AS. p[imac]l 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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Tubular iron piles are now much used.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, 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. [1913 Webster] Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile. --Cowper. [1913 Webster] 2. (Zool.) A covering of hair or fur. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, v. t. To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles. [1913 Webster] To sheet-pile, to make sheet piling in or around. See Sheet piling, under 2nd Piling. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, v. 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; as, to pile up wood. "Hills piled on hills." --Dryden. "Life piled on life." --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] The labor of an age in piled stones. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load. [1913 Webster] To pile arms To pile muskets (Mil.), to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms. [1913 Webster] Pileate .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pile \Pile\, n. [F. pile, L. pila a pillar, a pier or mole of stone. Cf. Pillar.] 1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood. [1913 Webster] 2. A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot. [1913 Webster] 3. A funeral pile; a pyre. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 4. A large building, or mass of buildings. [1913 Webster] The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 5. (Iron Manuf.) Same as Fagot, n., 2. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Note: 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. [1913 Webster] 7. [F. pile pile, an engraved die, L. pila a pillar.] The reverse of a coin. See Reverse. [1913 Webster] Cross and pile. See under Cross. Dry pile. See under Dry. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Piles \Piles\, n. pl. [L. pila a ball. Cf. Pill a medicine.] (Med.) The small, troublesome tumors or swellings about the anus and lower part of the rectum which are technically called hemorrhoids. See Hemorrhoids. Note: [The singular pile is sometimes used.] [1913 Webster] Blind piles, hemorrhoids which do not bleed. [1913 Webster]

