Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Pile

Pile

(pīl)
,
Noun.
[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.
(Zool.)
A covering of hair or fur.

Pile

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

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
.

Pile

,
Noun.
[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.
2.
A mass formed in layers;
as, a
pile
of shot
.
3.
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.
5.
(Iron Manuf.)
Same as
Fagot
,
Noun.
, 2.
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.
7.
[F.
pile
pile, an engraved die, L.
pila
a pillar.]
The reverse of a coin. See
Reverse
.
Cross and pile
.
See under
Cross
.
Dry pile
.
See under
Dry
.

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;
as, to
pile
up wood
.
“Hills piled on hills.”
Dryden.
“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.
[L. pila.]
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.
[L. palus.]
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.
[L. pilum.] The head of an arrow.

PILE

,
Noun.
[L. pilus.] Properly, a hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton and the like; hence, the nap, the fine hairy substance of the surface of cloth.

PILE

,
Verb.
T.
To lay or throw into a heap; to collect many things into a mass; as, to pile wood or stones.
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.]