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Definition 2024


pile_on

pile on

See also: pile-on

English

Verb

pile on (third-person singular simple present piles on, present participle piling on, simple past and past participle piled on)

  1. (transitive, idiomatic) to jump on top of someone or something quickly.
    • 2006, Steven M. Hallock, Editorial and Opinion: The Dwindling Marketplace of Ideas in Today's News, Praeger, ISBN 978-0275993306, page 69:
      As football linebackers pile on a quarterback in a blitz, the newspaper editorialist heaped sarcasm onto the president.
    • 2009, Human Kinetics with Thomas Hanlon, The Sports Rules Book - 3rd Edition, Human Kinetics, ISBN 978-0736076326, page 116:
      Piling on: Players may not pile on a runner after the ball is dead or intentionally fall upon any prostrate player.
    • 2011, Michael Harston, The Show: The Michael Thomas Story, Xlibris, ISBN 978-1456862220, page 21:
      The quarterback turns and hands the ball to his fullback just as Sumo hits him in the backfield causing a fumble. Ball loose, ball loose screamed Jones. There is a mad scramble for the loose ball as bodies pile on top of each other.

Noun

pile on (plural pile ons)

  1. An argument or fight in which one side is greatly advantaged by being more numerous or more closely allied than the other side.