| 释义 |
▪ I. pile, n.1|paɪl|
Forms: 1 pil, 4– pile, (4–8 pyle, 6 pyll, 7 peil).
[OE. píl masc. = OLG. *pîl (MLG., MDu. pîl, Du. pijl dart, arrow, also ON. píla fem., arrow, Da., Sw. pīl, from LG.), OHG., MHG. pfîl, Ger. pfeil dart, arrow, shaft, West Ger. pîl, a. L. pīl-um the heavy javelin of the Roman foot-soldier, orig. ‘pestle’.
The L. pīlum was no doubt adopted by the Germans in the L. sense ‘javelin’, which passed on the continent into that of ‘dart’, and hence ‘arrow’, in which latter sense it superseded the native word. In OE. the sense ‘javelin’ passed into those of ‘dart’ and ‘pointed stake’ (= L. sudis): but the former is known only in a few poetic compounds, fliᵹe-píl flying-dart, hylde-píl battle dart, and the earliest examples of the simple word in this sense are ME.; if applied to an arrow, it was only as subsidiary to native names.]
1.
†a. A dart; a shaft; (?) an arrow. Obs.
a1000Be Mannes Mod 26 Bið þæt æfþonca eal ᵹefylled feondes fliᵹepilum. ― Riddles xviii. 6 Frea þæt bihealdeð hu me of hrife fleoᵹað hyldepilas. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 3490 Scheteþ wiþ piles & ȝif hem deþ wounde. c1400Destr. Troy 6976 Þen Paris..with a pile sharp, Rut hym in thurgh þe rybbis with a roid wond.
b. The pointed head of a dart, lance, or arrow.
1592Constable Sonn. i. v, Thine eye the pyle is of a murdring dart. c1611Chapman Iliad iv. 545 Through both his temples struck the dart, the wood of one side show'd, The pile out of the other look'd. 1627Drayton Court of Fairy Wks. (1748) 166 His spear—a bent both stiff and strong,..The pile was of a horse-fly's tongue. 1639Fuller Holy War ii. x. (1840) 63 Like an arrow well feathered, but with a blunt pile; he flew swift, but did not sink deep. 1700Hickes Let. in Pepys' Corr. 19 June, Elf arrows..are of a triangular form, somewhat like the beard or pile of our old English arrows of war. [1796Pegge Anonym. (1809) 103 Fletcher, he that trimmed arrows by adding the feathers; Arrowsmith, he that made the piles.] 1875Encycl. Brit. II. 376/1 Arrows are manufactured generally of red-pine timber,..glued on one end, upon the point of which the iron pile is fixed. 1894H. Walrond in Longman & Walrond Archery xviii. 304 Arrows are..called ‘self’ or ‘footed’ according as to whether they are footed or not with hard wood at the pile end. 1939P. H. Gordon New Archery ii. vi. 67 The solid-tipped ‘parallel pile’ is preferable to hollow-point ‘bullet ferrules’. 1958Wiseman & Brundle Archery 83 The piles or tips of arrows are made of brass, steel, aluminium, horn or plastic. 1972T. Foy Beginner's Guide Archery xvi. 124 In the eighteenth-century the Turks were superb Flight Shots, and they invented ‘barrelled’ arrows which were thicker at the centre than at the nock and pile. 1979R. Laidlaw Lion is Rampant xiii. 104 They were target arrows with conical piles.
c. Used to render L. pīlum, the heavy javelin of the ancient Roman foot-soldier.
c1620Fletcher & Mass. False One i. i, How the Roman Peils..drew Roman blood. 1627May Lucan i. 8 Knowne Ensignes Ensignes doe defie, Piles against Piles, 'gainst Eagles Eagles fly. (Note. If any man quarrell at the word Pile, as thinking it scarse English, I desire them to give a better word.) 1687Dryden Hind & P. ii. 161 That was but civil war, an equal set, Where piles with piles, and eagles eagles met. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 89/1 The Germans came so violently vpon the Romans that the souldiers cast away their piles, and betooke them to their swords. 1718Rowe tr. Lucan i. 7 Piles against piles oppos'd in impious fight, And Eagles against Eagles bending flight. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. vi. 273 The Romans threw their piles, and rushed headlong upon the unwieldy mass.
2.
†a. A spike, a nail; a spine (of a prickly plant, in ME. of a hedgehog); the pointer of a sun-dial.
c1000ælfric Saint's Lives v. 388 He ᵹehæfte [hi] on anum micclum stocce, and mid isenum pilum heora ilas ᵹefæstnode and cwæð þæt hi sceoldon swa standan on þam pilum. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 304 Heo [sea-holly] hafað stelan hwitne..on ðæs heahnysse ufeweardre beoð acennede scearpe and þyrnyhte pilas. a1100O.E. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 337/6 Gnomon dæᵹmæles pil. a1200Fragm. ælfric's Gram. (ed. Phillips 1838), Prikiende so piles on ile. c1225,1387[see ilespiles s.v. il]. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 179/50 Heo stikeden al-so þicke on him, so yrichon deth of piles. Ibid. 298/49 Ase ful ase is an Irchepil of piles al-a-boute.
b. A (pointed) blade (of grass). [Cf. Da. dial. pile, græspile, Fl. pijl, graspijl.]
1513Douglas æneis xiii. Prol. 25 At euery pilis point and cornis croppis The techrys stude, as lemand beriall droppis. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 153 More sinnes then there bee grasse piles vpon the earth. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 291 There shall not a pile of Grass be left within his Kingdom. 1765Museum Rust. IV. xxviii. 122 Appearance of red clover, where not a pile of this grass had before been known. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 372 The grass was..smaller in the pile, and more luxuriant in its growth. 1895Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xxi, Every pile of the grass that springs so sweetly in the meadows.
c. A single glume or pale (of chaff). Sc.
1786Burns Address to Unco Guid heading, The cleanest corn..May hae some pyles o' caff in.
3. a. A pointed stake or post; spec. in later use, a large and heavy beam of timber or trunk of a tree, usually sharpened at the lower end, of which a number are driven into the bed of a river, or into marshy or uncertain ground for the support of some superstructure, as a bridge, pier, quay, wall, the foundation of a house, etc. Also extended to cylindrical or other hollow iron pillars, used for the same purposes.
In prehistoric times villages or settlements were built upon wooden piles in lakes: see pile-dwelling, etc. in 5.
a1100O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) Introd. (from Bæda), Ða ᵹenamon þa Walas, and adrifon sumre ea ford ealne mid scearpum pilum [Bæda sudibus, D. stængum: cf. Wr.-Wülcker 509/14 sudibus stengum] greatum innan þam welere sy ea hatte Temese. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4611 Longe pyles & grete dide þey [Britons] make; Faste yn Temese dide þey hem stake. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 23 Þe tree..With þre pyles was it vnder-piȝte. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. v. (Skeat) l. 116 If the pyles ben trewe, the gravel and sand wol abyde. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlviii. (1482) 316 The duk hym self with ij or thre lepe vpon the pyles, and so were saued with helpe of men that were aboue the bridge. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 171 The brekyng vp of the dokke hede at Portesmouth weyng vt of the piles & shorys. 1530Palsgr. 254/1 Pyle to be set in a fauty grounde, pilot. 1555Eden Decades 226 Theyr houses..are..buylded aboue the grownde vppon proppes & pyles. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 356 Two walles, the one of Turffe, and the other of Pyles and Tymber strongly and artificially interposed. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 405 Like the houses of Amsterdam. which are reported to stand upon piles driven deep into the quagmire. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man ii. (ed. 3) 17 Habitations..constructed on platforms raised above the lake, and resting on piles.
fig.1886Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 416 Drive down the oaken pile of a principle.
b. With various qualifications expressing purpose or nature: e.g.
bearing p., bridge p., foundation p., guide p., hollow p., sheathing p., short p., weir p., etc. close pile, a timber pile forming one of many set close together; false pile, a pile to which additional length is given after driving; filling pile, one of those filling up the space between gauge piles; hydraulic pile, a pile sunk in sand by means of a powerful jet of water led either inside or outside of it. Also fender p., gauge p., guard p., guide p., pneumatic p., screw p., sheet or sheeting p., stay p., for which see these words.
1859G. Meredith R. Feverel I. xvii. 266 The Magnetic Youth leaned round to note his proximity to the weir-piles. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. II. 1700/2 A hollow pile is a cylinder which is sunk by excavation proceeding inside. 1877Ibid. III, Short-pile..driven as closely as possible without causing the driving of one pile to raise the adjacent ones. They are used to compress and consolidate ground for foundations.
†c. A stake or post fixed in the ground, at which swordsmen practised their strokes. Obs. rare.
c1480Knyghthode & Batayle (MS. Cott. Titus A. xxiii. lf. 6 b), Nooman..is seyn prevayle, In feeld..That with the pile, nathe firste grete exercise.
4. Her. A charge, regarded by some as an ordinary, by others as a sub-ordinary, consisting of a figure formed by two lines meeting in an acute angle (generally assumed to represent an arrow-head), issuing, when not otherwise stated, from the chief or top of the escutcheon, with the point downwards. in pile: arranged in the form of a pile. party per pile: divided by lines in the form of a pile.[App. a special use of sense 1 b, or directly from L. pīlum. Not known in OF.: Littré has it as a neologism, pile masc., and refers it to L. pīlum; but it may have been taken directly from Eng. heraldry.] 1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. E v b, Certan armys in the wich iij. pilis mete to gedyr in oon coone... He berith golde iij. pilis of sable. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxvii. 337 The baner..was of syluer a sharpe pyle goules. 1562Leigh Armorie 46 The eight particion, which is to be blased on thys sorte. Party per pile in pointe, Or and Sable. Ibid. 143 He beareth Ermin, a Pile in pointe Gueules. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry ii. vi. (1611) 62 He beareth Argent a Triple Pile, Flory on the tops, issuing out of the Sinister base, in Bend towards the Dexter corner, Sable. This sort of bearing of the Pile, hath a resemblance of so many Piles driuen into some water-worke, and..incorporated at their heads. Ibid. ii. vi. (1660) 73 A Pile is an Ordinary consisting of a two-fold line formed after the manner of a Wedge; that is to say broad at the upper end, and..meeting together at the lower end in an Acute-angle. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Pile, in Heraldry,..probably something like the Figure of the Roman Pilum, which was a tapering Dart, about five Foot long, and sharpened at the Point with Steel. 1766–87Porny Heraldry (ed. 4) 135 The sixteenth is Argent, three piles meeting near the point of the base Azure. c1828Berry Encycl. Her. I. Gloss., Pile, triple, or triple⁓pointed, in base, bendwise,..by Ferne, termed a pile, naisant, in bend, triple-flory. 1864Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. ix. (ed. 3) 50 Sa., three Swords in pile arg. 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §235 The Pile, a wedge-shaped space of colour with the point downwards, represents what we still call a pile; a piece of timber driven into moist ground.
5. attrib. and Comb. (from 3).
a. attrib. Of a pile, as pile-head, pile-wood; formed of piles, as pile-breakwater, pile-dam, pile-planking, pile-structure; supported on piles, as pile-bridge, pile-habitation, pile-lighthouse, pile-pier, pile-road, pile-settlement, pile-village; used as a pile, as pile-plank.
b. obj. and obj. gen., as pile-fixer, pile guide, pile-screwing.
c. instrumental, as pile-supported adj.d. Special Comb.: pile-building, a building erected on piles, esp. one of such dwellings of certain prehistoric and primitive peoples; so also pile-builder, pile-built a.; pile-cap, a cap or plate for the head of a pile; also, a beam connecting the heads of piles; pile-drawer, a machine for extracting piles; pile-dwelling, a dwelling built on piles, especially in shallow water, as a lake, but sometimes on dry ground; hence pile-dweller; pile-engine = pile-driver; pile-hoop, a hoop or band round the head of a pile to keep it from splitting; pile-house, a house built on piles, a pile-dwelling; pile-saw, a saw for cutting off piles below the surface of the water; hence pile-sawing; pile-shoe, an iron point fixed to the lower end of a pile; pile-worm, the teredo, or other worm or animal which bores into piles. See also pile-driver, pileways, pile-work.
1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 445/1 Under the protection of two huge *pile-breakwaters.
1899Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 5/3 The scarcity of timber or other material suitable for the erection of a trestle or *pile bridge. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 643/1 Pile bridge, a bridge whose superstructure is carried on piles.
1884Nature 19 June 169/1 There are good reasons for believing these *pile-builders are the direct descendants of the pre-Aryan aboriginals.
1865Lubbock Preh. Times v. 127 The Lake-dwellers followed two different systems..which he distinguishes as..*Pile⁓buildings, and..Crannoges. 1886Athenæum 24 Apr. 556/1 The pile-buildings of the Swiss lakes.
1851A. O. Hall Manhattaner 5 It was a modest commercial plain; *pile-built, and earth filled. 1898C. E. Fowler Coffer-dam Process for Piers iv. 49 The small hammer..is used for sheet pile work by inserting a ‘follower’ of oak which fits the base or pile cap, and which has a slit in the lower end to fit the sheet pile. 1903Kipling Five Nations 41 Do you know the pile-built village where the sago-dealers trade? 1944[see piling vbl. n.1 2]. 1975R. Holmes Introd. Civil Engin. Construction iv. 166 Pile caps are usually constructed of concrete to such a depth as will ensure full transfer of load to the piles and, at the same time, resist punching shear.
1800Hull Advertiser 5 Apr. 1/3 The constructing of a *pile dam opposite to the clough.
1880Dawkins Early Man 302 The *pile-dwellers possessed vegetables not traceable to wild stocks now growing in Switzerland.
1863Lyell Antiq. Man 29 It relates to the earliest age of *pile-dwelling. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. iii. 114 Their [the Etruscans'] predecessors of the Neolithic age whose pile-dwellings..have yielded wheat and coral, evidences of Eastern intercourse.
1776G. Semple Building in Water 36 The Platform of the *Pile-engine. 1853Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 154 The piles were driven by pile-engines..constructed on the boats of the country.
1974People's Jrnl. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 29 June 22 (caption) In one of the biggest lifts ever in the off-shore oil industry a 940-ton *pile guide cluster is lifted into position to be fixed to the base of the huge oil rig jacket now being finished at Nigg. 1975Offshore Sept. 11/1 The ‘Heerema Steel Structure’ consists essentially of a jacket made up of four steel towers which fit into a steel base frame incorporating pile guides.
1886A. Winchell Walks Geol. Field 283 Jars of dried apples and wheat..have been yielded from the *pile⁓habitations.
1875W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 45 Dowalton Loch..celebrated by the discovery there of *pile⁓houses. 1884Nature 19 June 169/2 The races who now build these pile-houses, often on hill-tops.
1895Daily News 27 Sept. 5/4 Unlike the old *pile piers, it is a substantial structure of masonry.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 590 *Pile-planks, planks of which the ends are sharpened, so as to enter into the bottom of a canal. 1838Civ. Eng. & Archit. Jrnl. I. 150/1 A scaffold was erected, upon which the pile drivers were placed for driving the sheet piles (pile planks)..of the best North Carolina heart pine.
1793R. Mylne Rep. Thames 24 A Jettee of *Pile-planking..should be run a little way down from the Point.
1860Weale Dict. Terms s.v., As a considerable length of the Utica and Syracuse railroad passes through a deep swamp, a foundation of great permanency was required: this gave rise to a modification of the superstructure, and formed that which is known as *pile-road.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1703/1 Vogler's *pile-sawing attachment for boats.
1897R. Munro Preh. Problems 304 A *pile-settlement of the Bronze Age.
1495Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 150 A pykas and ij *pyles shone. 1844Mech. Mag. XL. 54 Improvement in the formation of pile-shoes.
1887Westm. Rev. June 340 Along this line [Barmston and Skipsea Drain] five or six other *pile-structures have been found.
1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 389 An old *pile-supported pier.
1879Athenæum 6 Sept. 312/1 *Pile-villages have been found on the shores of Gmunden.
1894C. Welch Tower Bridge 133 Snuff-boxes and other memorials..turned from the *pile wood.
1733tr. Rousset (title) Observations on the Sea or *Pile Worms discover'd in Pile or Woodworks in Holland.
▪ II. † pile, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 4–6 pyle, 5 pyl, pyll, pylle, 5–8 pile.
[Of doubtful origin.
Evidently distinct historically from pile n.3, sense 4. It may, however, be an earlier adoption of the same Fr. word. In sense it agrees exactly with peel n.1, senses 3 and 4; and in the 16th c. the Border peels usually appear in the English State papers as pyles or piles. Yet the words cannot be doublets, for in pile the final e is evidently original.]
A small castle, tower, or stronghold; = peel n.1 3.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 685 Þe ryȝtwys man also sertayn Aproche he schal þat proper pyle [rime gyle]. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 360 That holy-cherche stode in vnite As it a pyle were. 1393Ibid. C. xxii. 366 Holy churche stod in holynesse as hit were a pile. c1430Hymns Virg. (1867) 45 Þanne y councellid eroud with-inne a while..Þat alle men children in towne & pile To slee þem, þat ihesus myght with hem die. c1435Torr. Portugal 573 Yf I dwelle in my pylle of ston. c1450Lonelich Grail xii. 349 It [Castle of Valachim] was On of the Strengest pyl, That Euere Man Sawgh in Ony Exyl. 14..Coventry Corp. Chr. Pl. (E.E.T.S.) 16 Yett do I marvell In whatt pyle or castell These herdmen dyd hym see. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 222 b, The grekes wer besieged in a litle preatie pyle or castle. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 866 They sayled into Englande.., and landed..at the pyle of Fowdrey within lytle of Lancaster [called in 1423 Act 2 Hen. VI, c. 5 le Peele de Foddray en le Counte de Lancastre]. 1602in Moryson Itin. ii. iii. i. (1617) 270 To build little piles of Stone in such Garrisons [in Ireland] as shall be thought fittest to be continuall bridles vpon the people. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xiv. viii. 18 Arabia,..a rich land,..replenished also with strong castles and piles [castris oppleta ualidis et castellis]. [1679Blount Anc. Tenures 20 Pele or Pile, is a Fort built for defence of any place. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Pille of Foddray, or Pile of Fouldrey,..called pille, by the idiom of the county, for a pile, or fort.]
b. spec. Applied to the Peels on the Scottish border: = peel n.1 4.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 512 The which..threwe downe certayne pylys and other strengthis, and a parte of the Castell of Beawmount. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 203 The kyng entended..to make new diuers Pyles and stoppes to let the Scottysh men from their inuasions. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 881/1 He ouerthrew certeine castels, piles, and small holds, till he came through the dales to Iedworth. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V, Wks. (1711) 91 Thomas earl of Surrey,..had burnt many towns, and overthrown castles and piles. 1774Lambe Battle of Flodden cxliv, Where piles be pulled down apace.
▪ III. pile, n.3|paɪl|
Forms: 5– pile, (5–7 pyle, 6 pyele).
[a. F. pile heap, pyramid, mass of masonry, pier of a bridge (1340 in Godef.) = It. pila mole, pier, pillar, Sp. pila, Pg. pilha pile, heap:—L. pīla pillar, pier, or mole of stone.]
†1.
a. A pillar; a pier, esp. of a bridge. Obs.
(Not to be confused with pile n.1 3.)
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 1089 Pilis maad of tilis must ascende Too feet and half. c1440Promp. Parv. 398/1 Pyle, of a bryggys fote, or oþer byggynge.., pila. a1577Gascoigne Flowers Wks. (1587) 59 Then waues of euil doe worke so fast my piles are ouerrun. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 115 Of this Bridge thirteene piles of bricke may bee seene neere the shore at Pozzoli. 1702Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 434 This bridge consisted of twenty piles, each 60 foot in thickness, and 150 in height, besides the foundation. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 219 Of the Stones.., one of them is still seen in the middle Pile of the Bridge delle Navi.
†b. fig. Applied to the neck, leg, etc.
1584Lodge Alarum agst. Usurers (Hunter. Cl.) 72 Her stately necke where nature did acquite Her selfe so well,..For in this pile was fancie painted faire. Ibid. 73 The stately thies, Like two faire compast marble pillers rise..Next which the knees..This stately pyles with gladsome honour greete. 1589― Scillaes Met. (Hunter. Cl.) 41 Now Nature stands amazd her selfe to looke on Beauties feete,..So small a pile so great a waight, like Atlas to vphold The bodie.
†2. A mole or pier in the sea. Obs.
c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §334 (1810) 345 There is a harbour for ships, by means of a pile built. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 87 But if no man sustain damage, hee is to bee defended who build's upon the shore, or cast's a Pile into the Sea.
3. a. A heap of things (of some height) laid or lying one upon another in a more or less regular manner; also fig.
c1440Promp. Parv. 398/1 Pyle, or heep, where of hyt be, cumulus. Ibid., Pyle of clothys..on a presse, panniplicium. 1530Palsgr. 254/1 Pyle of clothes or any other heape, pille. 1653Milton Hirelings Wks. 1738 I. 579 To how little purpose are all those piles of Sermons, Notes, and Comments on all parts of the Bible. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 53 You are called out to see piles of dead carcasses. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1707) 15 A rude pile of Stones erected..for an Altar. 1744Berkeley Siris §13 Such heaps or piles of wood were sometimes a hundred and eighty cubits round. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 363 Behold yon pile of clouds, Like a city, round the sun. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 231 The sheet printed on both sides is delivered upon the board,..and laid upon the pile. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 310 A large pile of letters and packages.
b. A series of weights fitting one within or upon another, so as to form a solid cone or other figure. (So F. pile.)
This sense is certain for quots. 1611, 1690; but quot. 1440 is doubtful. The attrib. use in pile weight apparently belongs here.
c1440Promp. Parv. 398/1 Pyle, of weyynge, libramentum, libra. 1585Sir F. Knollys Abstr. syzinge Troye weyghte (MS. Rawl. D. 23 lf. 18), They argve that the gowlde smythes pyle weyghte is muche tooe heavy, to be the trewe Troy weyghte. 1611Cotgr., Pile,..also, the pile, or whole masse, of weights vsed by Goldsmithes, etc. 1647in Cochran-Patrick Rec. Coinage Scotl. (1876) I. Introd. 80 Compared the forsaid round brasse stone weight..with a new brasse stone pyle weight in the coinyehouse, and I found the said new pyle weight havier by almost halfe one oz. Ibid., The new 4 lb pyle marked with a fleure de lyce boght from J. Falconar Warden from Holland. Ibid. 81 Having examined the French pyle marked with the fleure de lyce amongst the weights now used. 1660Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 Sched. s.v. Brass, Brass of Pile weights the pound, j.s. 1690Boyle Medicina Hydrostat. Wks. 1772 V. (Plate at end), The Explication of the Figure..q. the Pile of Weights.
†c. A large group, clump, or collection of things, without reference to height; a ‘lot’. Obs.
1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 47 Of these ilands are two pyles: the one of them..little frequented; the other..containeth six in number, to wit: Saint Iago, Fuego, Mayo, Bonavisto, Sal, and Bravo. 1864E. Dickinson Lett. (1894) II. 253 Father has built a new road round the pile of trees between our house and Mr. S―'s.
d. spec. A heap of combustibles on which a dead body is burnt (funeral pile).
1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 83 Laying them vpon their backs on beds, they conueyed them vnto the funerall pile..on beares. 1699Garth Dispens. iii. 30 And with Prescriptions lights the solemn Pyle. 1700Dryden Palamon & Arc. iii. 990 Full bowls of wine, of honey, milk, and blood, Were poured upon the pile of burning wood. 1878Maclear Celts ii. (1879) 19 Some even voluntarily came forward to share the pile with an honoured person deceased. 1879Froude Cæsar xviii. 305 Made a pile of chairs and benches and tables, and burnt all that remained of Clodius.
e. A heap of wood or faggots on which a sacrifice or a person is burnt.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 64 Isaac was layde on the pile of wood to bee offered up in sacrifice. a1618Sylvester Maidens Blush 1783 The Father makes the Pile: Hereon he layes His bond-led, blind-led Son. 1848A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 331 Then the people kindled the pile; but though the flame was exceedingly large it did not touch her. 1902Westm. Gaz. 12 July 1/3 ‘It is disgraceful’, said the curate, who was all for the pile of faggots.
f. Mil. A stack of arms regularly built up.
1608D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 122 b, Germanicus.. caused a pyle of weapons to be raised. 1887Bowen æneid i. 296 Sinful Rebellion..Piling her fiendish weapons, shall sit firm bound on the pile.
g. An oblong rectangular mass of cut lengths of puddled iron-bars, laid upon each other in rows, for the purpose of being rolled after being raised to a welding temperature in a reheating furnace; a ‘faggot’.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 707 Four rows of these [iron bars] are usually laid over each other into a heap or pile which is placed in the re-heating furnace..and exposed to a free circulation of heat, one pile being set crosswise over another. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Pile, the fagot or bundle of flat pieces of iron prepared to be heated to welding-heat and then rolled.
h. ellipt. (for pile of wealth, money, dollars, etc.) A heap of money; a fortune accumulated or heaped up. Chiefly in colloq. phr. to make one's pile; also to go one's pile, to stake all one's money on a single chance, to ‘go the whole hog’.[1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 107 What piles of wealth hath he accumulated To his owne portion? 1839Thirlwall Greece VI. 233 It seems to have been one of the state maxims..to draw as little as possible from this pile of wealth. 1876Holland Sev. Oaks xxiii. 324 Yes, and I've made piles of money on them.] 1741Franklin in Poor Rich. Alm. Apr. (Bartlett), Rash mortals, ere you take a wife, Contrive your pile to last for life. 1839Picayune (New Orleans) 29 Mar. 2/2 Friends of the Lubber, becoming excited at the unexpected termination of the first heat, were willing to go a ‘small pile’ somewhere in the neighborhood of even. 1840Spirit of Times X. 498 Considerable sums were laid out..the Georgians ‘going their pile’ on the Andrew filly. 1852Marryat Gold Quartz Mining 8 On the old Californian principle of ‘making a ‘pile’ and vamosing the ranché’. 1862Fraser's Mag. July 27 Every partisan blackleg bets his ‘pile’ upon his favourite. 1864E. A. Murray E. Norman III. 182 The hope which cheers..so many [Australian diggers]... ‘We may make our pile yet, and go home’. 1865‘Mark Twain’ Celebr. Jumping Frog (1867) 37 His last acts was to go his pile..when there was a ‘flush’ out agin him. 1887Jessopp Arcady vii. 196 Capitalists who had made their pile were consumed by a desire to walk over their own broad acres. 1915J. Buchan 39 Steps i. 10, I had got my pile—not one of the big ones, but good enough for me. 1915Wodehouse Psmith Journalist xxii. 166 He made a bit of a pile out of the job, and could afford to lie low for a year or two. 1969Listener 24 July 103/2 So many Poles or Ukrainians..had spent part of their life in the United States, and returned home after making a decent pile. 1973Times 22 Mar. 25/1 This is tough talk from a man who first made his pile as an investment banker. 1977McKnight & Tobler Bob Marley i. 17 The only way to get ahead, make your pile and escape from the overwhelming oppression and depression of poverty.
i. A nuclear reactor.
1942H. L. Anderson et al. in E. Fermi Coll. Papers (1965) II. 129 At the end of September, 1941, a new and taller exponential pile was set up and the accuracy was further increased by using a 2 gram Ra + Be source instead of the original source of about 600 mg. 1945H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes v. 48 In a memorandum written to Bush on May 14, 1942.., Conant estimated that there were five separation or production methods that were..likely to succeed: the centrifuge, diffusion, and electromagnetic methods of separating U-235; the uranium-graphite pile and the uranium-heavy-water pile methods of producing plutonium. 1945War Illustr. 9 Nov. 439/1 The natural uranium (U238) is in the shape of rods embedded in a graphite block and contained in an atomic ‘pile’. 1945Nature 29 Dec. 768/2 They give..brief accounts..of the construction and testing of the first self-sustaining chain-reacting pile. 1946Ann. Reg. 1945 354 A pile, containing 12,400 lb. of uranium in lumps separated by graphite, set up in Chicago under the direction of Prof. E. Fermi, was first operated on December 2, 1942. 1948K. K. Darrow Atomic Energy iv. 66 When I heard the name in its new meaning and knew that Fermi an Italian had invented the new pile, I took it for granted that he had intentionally chosen the appellation of Volta. Great was my surprise when I learned from Fermi that it was a mere coincidence. He had conferred the name on his device because it was ‘such a big pile of graphite and uranium’. 1952Nucleonics Mar. 11/1 In later developments, most of the assemblies bear no resemblance to piles so that the expression nuclear reactor is to be preferred. Some British writers make the distinction that piles imply the use of natural uranium, and reactors, the use of enriched uranium. 1954C. P. Snow New Men vi. 100 ‘If the pile gets too hot, then they automatically shut the whole thing off,’ said Luke. 1955Sci. News Let. 26 Mar. 201/2 Fissionable material to fuel the pile will be obtained from the AEC on an extended loan basis. 1957Times 12 Oct. 6/1 The danger of radioactivity being disseminated from the pile chimney in steam. 1964M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy, 1939–1945 x. 284 The theoretical physicists also contributed greatly to a whole range of pile theory and pile design problems. 1976Sci. Amer. Dec. 32/2 Barely two and a half years elapsed between the initial chain-reacting pile on December 2, 1942, and the explosion of the first plutonium bomb on July 16, 1945.
4. a. A lofty mass of buildings; a large building or edifice.
1607J. Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 84 If this loftie Pyle bee not equalized by the estate and reuenewes of the builder, it is as if Paules steeple should serue Pancras Church for a Belfry. 1663Cowley Verses Sev. Occas., Queen's Repairing Somerset-Ho., Two of the best and stateliest Piles which e're Man's liberal Piety of old did rear. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 28 Over against the middle of the Bridge,..there is a great square pile of building in the Water. 1791Boswell Johnson 21 Sept. an. 1773, There is a very large unfinished pile, four stories high. 1823Scott Peveril xxx, This antiquated and almost ruinous pile occupied a part of the site of the public offices in the Strand..commonly called Somerset House. 1855Prescott Philip II, I. i. vii. 102 Philip testified his joy..by raising the magnificent pile of the Escorial. 1870H. Smart Race for Wife ii, Glinn was a large pile of brickwork.
b. fig.
1671Milton Samson 1069 His look Haughty as is his pile high-built and proud. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 89/2 The beautiful pile of justice which he had reared presently fell to the ground. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. 39 Afraid of raising a great pile of conjecture on a very slender basis of facts.
5. A series of plates of two dissimilar metals, such as copper and zinc, laid one above the other alternately, with cloth or paper moistened with an acid solution placed between each pair, for producing an electric current (galvanic pile or voltaic pile). Also extended to other arrangements of such plates: cf. battery.
dry pile, a voltaic pile in which no liquid is used, and which generates a feeble but very permanent current.
1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 119 When they used the order of silver, card, zinc, &c... This pile gave us the shock as before described. Ibid., The plate A was connected with the top of the electrometer and the silver end of the pile. 1849Noad Electricity 198 The chemical power of the voltaic pile was discovered and described by Messrs. Nicholson and Carlisle, in the year 1800. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. xiv. 381 Behind the screen..was an excellent thermo⁓electric pile. 1894S. R. Bottone Electr. Instr. Making (ed. 6) 146 This pile was used with a large paraffin burner having an iron chimney nearly touching the interior ends of elements. [Ibid., Fig. 56 is reproduced from a photograph of the identical thermopile.]
▪ IV. pile, n.4 arch.|paɪl|
Also 4 pyl, 6 pyle, pyll, pyell.
[a. OF. pile (12th c. in Littré), also in med.L. pīla. In Fr. opposed to croix, as in Eng. to ‘cross’, also in mod.F. to face, in à pile ou face.
F. pile, L. pīla, in this sense was app. the same word as in prec., the pile or under iron of the coin (coin n. 4) being a small upright iron pillar, on the flat top of which the piece of metal was laid to be stamped: see sense 1.]
†1. The under iron of the minting apparatus with which money was struck; its surface bore the die of which the impression was made on the reverse or pile side of the piece. Opposed to trussell or tursall, F. trousseau (Cotgr.): see quot. 1876. Obs.[1293Memoranda K.R. 20 & 21 Edw. I, m. 35 b cedule, Inuente sunt inter bona illa due pecie quarum vna vocatur pila et alia crosse que vocantur cuneus ad monetam Regis cudendam. 1300(Nov. 10) Ibid. 28 & 29 Edw. I. 61 De cuneis Cambii Dunelmensis... Vous enueyames del dit Eschekier..deux peire de Cuyns noueaux en .vj. peces. E puis..vne peire noue en treis peces, cest a sauoir a chescone peire vne pile e ij Trusseux.] 1562–3Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 227 Ane pile and ane tursall maid for cunyeing of certane pecis of gold and silvir, the pile havand sunkin thairin foure lettris. 1587–8Ibid. IV. 265 To grave, sink and mak countaris of lattoun, with sic pyles and tursallis as may serve to that effect. 1605Ibid. VII. 54 To ressave the pyllis and tursellis laitlie send hame from England, and the puncheons for making of ma pyllis and tursellis. 1611Cotgr., Pile.., also, the pile, or under-yron of the stampe wherein money is stamped. 1876R. W. Cochran-Patrick Rec. Coinage Scotl. I. Introd. 49 Each moneyer had two irons or puncheons, one of which was called the ‘pile’, and the other the ‘trussell’. The ‘pile’ was from seven to eight inches long, and was firmly fixed in a block of wood (called ‘ceppeau’ in the French Ordonnances). On the ‘pile’ was engraved one side of the coin, and on the ‘trussell’ the other.
2. Hence, The side of a coin opposite to the ‘cross’ or face; the reverse. arch. cross and (or) pile, in phrases: see cross n. 21 b-e.
1390Gower Conf. I. 172 Whos tunge neither pyl ne crouche Mai hyre. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 51 Of crosse nor pile there is no recluse, Prynte nor impressioun in all thy seyntwarye. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cliv. 185 The frenche kyng made newe money of fyne golde, called florence of y⊇ lambe, for in the pyell there was grauyn a lambe. [Cf. Chron. de S. Den., B.N. 2813, lf. 396 Appellez florins a l'aignel pour ce que en la pile avoit un aignel.] 1530Palsgr. 254/1 Pyle of a coyne, the syde havyng no crosse, pile. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii 688 That you as sure, may Pick and Choose, As Cross I win, and Pile you lose. 1706Phillips, Pile,..the backside of a piece of Money. 1843Mill Logic iii. xviii. §1 Why, in tossing up a halfpenny, do we reckon it equally probable that we shall throw cross or pile?
▪ V. pile, n.5|paɪl|
Also 5–6 pyle.
[ad. L. pĭlus hair. (Not through OF., which had peil, poil.)]
1. a. Hair, esp. fine soft hair, down; rarely, a single hair of this kind; the fine short hair of cattle, deer, etc.; the wool of sheep; the fine undercoat of certain rough-coated dogs, esp. the Old English sheep-dog; in Entom. fine hairs on an insect.
1486Bk. St. Albans E iij b, All that berith greece and piles ther vppon Euer shalle be strypte when thay be vndoon. 1513Douglas æneis vi. iv. 16 Four ȝoung stottis..blak of pyle. Ibid. viii. iii. 150 My grene ȝouth that tym, wyth pylis ȝing, Fyrst cleyd my chyn, or beird begouth to spring. 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy V. i, He has no whiskers,..not a pile. 1805J. Luccock Nat. Wool 18 The native..wraps himself in sheep skins, and blesses that hand which made their pile thick, warm and ponderous. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 306 Some Hymenoptera..have the upper lip of the male clothed with silver pile. 1859R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 318 The East African is by no means a hairy man. Little pile appears upon the body. 1893Lydekker Horns & Hoofs 159 In order to withstand the intense cold of a Tibetan winter, the chiru is clothed with a thick and close woolly pile. 1905J. Watson Dog Bk. v. 386 The under coat [of the bob-tailed sheep dog] should be a waterproof pile. 1938E. C. Ash New Bk. Dog. x. 395 Coat [of Old English sheep-dog].—Profuse, and of good hard texture... The undercoat a pile when not removed by grooming. 1971Dangerfield & Howell Internat. Encycl. Dogs 348/1 Pile. Dense undercoat.
b. transf. Applied to the downy plumage of a bird, or the downy part of a feather.
1340–70Alisaunder 814 Of his grounden gras, þe wus can hee take, Þeron hee brynges þe brid, & bathes his pilus. 1847Whistlebinkie (1890) II. 147, I can my falcon bring Without a pile of feather wrong on body, breast or wing.
c. Red or yellowish markings on white or pale-coloured fowls; a fowl with this coloration. Also attrib.
1854Poultry Chron. I. 289 The ‘white or pile game’..were withheld from prizes altogether. 1913W. Bateson Mendel's Princ. Heredity (rev. ed.) 120 The coloration known as ‘Pile’ in fowls is seldom bred for exhibition from two pile kinds. 1929E. Brown Poultry I. iii. 62 Pile Leghorns were produced by Mr. George Payne, of Woking. Ibid. 69 Pile.—This is purely exhibition fowl, so named from its having the markings of the old variety of Game fowl with the same designation.
2. a. A nap upon cloth; now esp. the downy nap or shag of velvet, plush, and similar fabrics, produced by an accessary or secondary warp the loops of which are cut so as to form a nap; also, loops in a carpet similarly produced and forming a nap.
double pile, pile upon pile, two-pile, three-pile, attrib. phr.: having the pile of double or treble closeness: see pile-warp in 3.
1568R. Sempill Ballads (1872) xxxviii. 238 With the sleik stanis..for the nanis They raise the pyle I mak ȝow plane. 1591Greene Art Conny Catch. ii. (1592) 22 He cals to see a boul of Saten, veluet,..and not liking the pile, culler, or bracke, he cals for more. 1605Rowlands Hell's Broke Loose 39 Rich Taffata and Veluet of three pile, Must serue our vse to swagger in a while. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Poil, Velours à deux poils, two-pile Veluet. 1784Cowper Task i. 11 Satin smooth, Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1701/2 In Brussels carpet..the wires are simply withdrawn and the loops left standing..In the Imperial Brussels the figure is raised above the ground and its pile is cut, but the ground is uncut. In the Royal Wilton the pile is raised higher than in the common Wilton, and is also cut. 1884Nonconf. & Indep. 17 Jan. 59/1 Persian carpets..take front rank..for general excellence, softness of pile, and harmony of colouring.
b. Each of the fine hair-like fibres of velvet, flannel, wool, or cotton.
1787Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 395 Like coarse velvet, each pile standing firm in its place. 1802Beddoes Hygëia v. 84 Flannel..is more likely to be hurtful..by the stimulating effect of its piles. 1805J. Luccock Nat. Wool 13 The ‘hair’ of this wool, i.e. the fineness or coarseness of the pile, the first object of a stapler's concern.
c. A fabric with a pile or nap, esp. velvet.
1843Lytton Last Bar. iv. v, It is not often that these roads witness riders in silk and pile.
d. transf. The burr on a plate in etching.
1883S. Haden in Harper's Mag. Jan. 233/2 Rembrandt employed the etching-needle..in such a way as to throw up with its point as much of the pile, or ‘burr’, as he required.
3. attrib. and Comb. (from sense 2). Having a pile, as pile-carpet, pile-fabric: belonging to or forming the pile, as pile-thread; pile-beam, a separate warp-beam, upon which the pile-warp is wound and carried; pile-warp, the secondary warp, which furnishes the substance of the pile, also called nap-warp; it may consist of one, two, or three threads in the loop, producing single-pile, double-pile, or three-pile velvet; pile-weaving, the weaving of fabrics with a pile or nap, by means of the pile-warp, which, by being passed over the pile-wires, forms loops, which are afterwards cut, or, in some cases, left standing; pile-wire, one of a number of wires used in pile-weaving; in the case of cut-pile fabrics, grooved on the upper side to facilitate cutting.
1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vi. 204 Striped velvets..owe their peculiar appearance to some of the *pile-threads being left uncut.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pile-warp, a warp which is woven in loops on the face to form a nap.
Ibid. 1701/2 In *pile-weaving, in addition to the usual warp and weft threads, a third thread is introduced.., and is thrown into loops by being woven over wires of the breadth of the cloth.
Ibid., *Pile-wire, the wire around which the warp-threads are looped to make a pile-fabric.
▪ VI. pile, n.6 Path.|paɪl|
Usually pl. piles. Also 5–6 pyle, (6 pylle).
A disease characterized by tumours of the veins of the lower rectum; hæmorrhoids. Rarely sing., a hæmorrhoid.
a1400–50Stockh. Med. MS. 15 A good medic[i]ne for the pylys & for the emerawdys. 1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters B iv, Sores and pyles on the fondament lyke wrattes. 1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 61 b, Of hemoroides or pylles. 1608Middleton Fam. Love iv. iv, A pile on ye, won't you! 1715S. Sewall Diary 29 Sept., Mr. Pemberton was very sick of the Piles. 1811Hooper Med. Dict. s.v. Hæmorrhois, A small pile, that has been painful for some days, may cease to be so, and dry up. 1869R. T. Claridge Cold Water Cure 176 Persons subject to piles should especially avoid all heating and stimulating drinks.
b. Comb., as pile-clamp, pile-supporter.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Pile-clamp, an instrument for removing hemorrhoids. Ibid., Pile-supporter, a suppository for preventing protrusion of the rectum. 1893Syd. Soc. Lex., Pile-clamp, an instrument..for crushing the base of the pile before cutting off, or for holding and compressing the pile.
▪ VII. pile, n.7
obs. form of pillow.
▪ VIII. pile, v.1|paɪl|
[f. pile n.1 in sense 3.]
1. trans. To furnish, strengthen, or support with piles (esp. of timber); to drive piles into.
c1440[see piling vbl. n.1 1]. a1552Leland Itin. II. 31 Toward the North End of this Bridge stondith a fair old Chapelle of Stone.., pilid in the Foundation for the rage of the Streame of the Tamise. 1661Brasenose Coll. Mun. 30. 20 They had in some cases to pile an arch to build on. 1716–17E. Rud in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 646 Part of the north ditch piled and planked. 1747Gentl. Mag., Hist. Chron. Sept. 445 Mr. King first carpenter to the [Westminster] Bridge protested against it without piling the foundation. 1790Trans. Soc. Arts VIII. 96 It [a wall] was planked and piled internally. 1881Chicago Times 14 May, Heavy oak pieces, twenty-five feet in length, will be used for piling the ‘coolies’ on Yellowstone division.
†2. To fix, drive in (as a stake or pile). Obs.
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccciii. 701 The flemynges had pyled in the ryuer of Lescalt great pyles of great tymbre, so that no shyppe coulde come fro Tourney to Andewarpe. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 695 These were piled in the earth, and vpon them were set the skulls of dead men, which they had slaine in the warres.
▪ IX. pile, v.2
[f. pile n.3]
1. a. trans. To form into a pile or heap; to heap up. Often with up, on.
c1358[see piling vbl. n.2]. c1400Destr. Troy 903 The ȝepe knight..Pight hom into ploghe, pilde vp the vrthe, Braid vp bygly all a brode feld. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 372 What enormities be there, but ignoraunce, doth (as it were) pile them vp one vpon another. 1607Rowlands Diog. Lanth. 6 He..got wealth, and pylde vp golde euen as they pyle vp stockfish in Island. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 135 Upon many of these Mosques the Storks have pyld their nests. 1663Gerbier Counsel 46 The Labourers..ought to take the bricks out of the Carts and pile them. 1711Addison Spect. No. 3 ⁋5 A prodigious Heap of Bags of Mony,..piled upon one another. 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 17 Like Pelion and Ossa piled one upon the other. 1832Tennyson Lady of Shalott i. iv, The reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 304 Many a feast high-pil'd, did load each table about them. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 341 The refuse was piled in heaps.
b. Mil. to pile arms: to place muskets or rifles (usually three) in a position in which their butts rest on the ground and their muzzles come together, so as to form a pyramidal figure: a mode of disposing of them so as to be readily available when wanted, practised by soldiers, etc., while resting during a march or other military operation; to stack arms. Also fig.
c1778Conquerors 65 Thus each griev'd soldier pil'd his arms and wept. 1862Beveridge Hist. India III. ix. ii. 573 The sepoys..at once obeyed the order to pile their arms. 1865T. Hughes in Morn. Star 5 Dec., The states⁓men of our own country had piled arms with the view of seeing how liberal institutions would succeed in America. 1879Martini-Henry Rifle Exerc. 37 The squad will be taught to pile arms as follows.
c. Metall. = faggot v. 2: cf. pile n.3 3 g.
1839Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 17/2 A reverberatory furnace of the common construction employed in ‘puddling’, ‘balling’, or ‘piling’ iron. 1891R. R. Gubbins (title) A New System of Hot-Charging and Hot-Piling Puddle Bars.
d. Leather-making. See piling vbl. n.1 1 b.
e. to pile up: to wreck (a ship); to crash (an aircraft, vehicle, etc.).
1899C. J. C. Hyne Further Adventures Capt. Kettle vi. 137 If the bar had shifted, he himself could have put this steamer on the ground as handily as the other man had piled up the branch boat. 1923Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Mar. 218/2 An old battle-cruiser which gets adrift in a gale..[and] is piled up on the rocks. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 223 Pile up one's bus, to, an airman's expression for coming a ‘crash’. 1930Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 230 We had a passenger..who wanted to see Caesar. It cost us our ship... He piled up the Eirene on his way. 1932‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road ix. 196 The fellow was so drunk that he'd probably have piled his car up anyway. 1942N. Streatfeild I ordered Table for Six 236 Andrew cautiously steered Claire to the centre of the floor... He was afraid if he talked he might pile her up. 1959G. Jenkins Twist of Sand iv. 78, I hope to God they don't pile that monster up on my runways. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 119 Pile up, to wreck a truck.
2. a. transf. and fig. To amass, accumulate.
1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 19 Shall I..here assume To mend the justice of the perfect God, By piling up a curse upon His curse Against thee. 1860Baily's Mag. Sept. 429 The Kent innings was piled up the next day to 152. 1870Athenæum 15 Oct. 489 Cowley often excels in piling his effects. 1873Baily's Mag. Dec. 287 We fancy there are some batsmen who would pile up the runs rapidly off his leg balls. 1886W. Hooper Sk. fr. Academic Life 49 A man who on every occasion piles up the titles which he possesses..sins against good taste. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 54 Included in the estate slowly piled up by the Yelvertons. 1898J. A. Gibbs Cotswold Village xi. 246 Once fairly started on a sequence of big scores, the cricketer goes on day by day piling up runs. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway i. 25 The Reindeers were flying over the Atlantic piling up the hours faster than Mr. Honey's test.
b. to pile up (or on) the agony (colloq.), to prolong and intensify to a climax the effect of anything painful by adding fresh elements or details. Also to pile it on.
1835–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 444, I was actilly in a piled-up-agony. 1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. II. 235. I do think he piled the agony up a little too high in that last scene. 1852C. Brontë in Mrs. Gaskell Life (1857) II. xi. 267, I doubt whether the regular novel-reader will consider the ‘agony piled sufficiently high’ (as the Americans say). 1852Star (Los Angeles) 3 Apr. 1/5 The wags observed that Caleb was getting exceedingly uneasy, and ‘piled it on’. 1876‘Mark Twain’ Old Times Mississippi viii. 43 ‘Now I don't want to discourage you, but—’ ‘Well, pile it on me; I might as well have it now.’ 1892Even. Echo 23 Jan. 2/2 Airing their eloquence and piling up the agonies on their respective opponents. 1943J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxxviii. 297, I fancy you're piling it on too much. There are lots of things you can enjoy, if you set about it properly. 1969E. Gébler Shall I eat you Now? 56 But that was piling it on a bit; she wasn't that daft. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 601, I suppose he will get what he wants at Cabinet but he's piling it on a bit thick. 1976West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 15 Dec. 8/2 And now they want to pile on the agony with rip-roaring monsters going round and round.
3. a. intr. for refl. or pass.
1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv, The hart-like leaves oft each with other pyle As doe the hard scales of the Crocodyle. 1785Burns Winter Night 80 Chill o'er his slumbers, piles the drifty heap! 1860Sir W. E. Logan in Borthwick's Brit. Amer. Rdr. 149 The ice in the St. Lawrence piles up over every obstacle. 1897Bookman Jan. 125/1 Money..continues to pile up and up at the bankers of a good lady. 1926Scribner's Mag. Sept. 266/1 ‘How things did pile up!’.. Almost every person Peter particularly dislikes came in for tea and..Feinberg showed up with Sally. 1930Morning Post 14 July 6/7 Vehicles crossing the circus diagonally had to ‘pile up’ in the centre. 1942We speak from Air 39 Whether you get the Hun or miss him, he frequently piles up on the ground through making his landing in fright. 1947John o' London's Weekly 25 July 502/3 In referring to the traffic ‘piling up’, did he mean that motor-cars, lorries, bicycles were stacked up in neat heaps on the roadway? 1956‘C. Blackstock’ Dewey Death vii. 160 The work is just piling up. 1975Times 18 Mar. (Greece Suppl.) 1/4 It is not just the old problems. Each day new ones pile up.
b. To climb on or go into (a vehicle, building, etc.) so as to form a pile; hence, to enter (a place) in crowds; and simply, to mount, enter, etc. orig. U.S.
1841L. B. Swan Jrnl. of Trip to Michigan (1904) 30 Brooks brought up his lumber wagon and we all ‘piled in’. 1854M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine iii. 44 Fanny with half a dozen other girls..began piling on to Bill's old sled. 1879J. Burroughs Locusts & Wild Honey (1884) 38 They [sc. bees] come piling in till the rain is upon them. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxvi. 345 Here comes a couple of the hounds in from under Jim's bed; and they kept on piling in till there was eleven of them. 1923R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean vii. 114 Judson introduced his four shipmates who piled into the automobile. 1929R. Graves Good-Bye to all That x. 103 There were about three thousand prisoners already there and more piled in every day. 1943N. Coward Middle East Diary (1944) 100 We flagged a passing lorry.., piled into it bag and baggage and whirled off to the airport. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) viii. 72 We piled into his car and were off. 1972J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) xiii. 231 We jawed..and finally piled into the cars.
c. Hence used of the reverse processes: to climb down from, or off (a vehicle); to come out of (a place), etc., in crowds. orig. U.S.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxii. 205 A lot of men begun to pile down off of the benches and swarm toward the ring. 1896Ade Artie xi. 100 We stopped in front of the church and piled out. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xx. 150 Then they piled out for the boss. 1908― Riverman xxii. 195 They piled off the train at Sawyer's. 1921C. E. Mulford Bar-20 Three xvii. 224 Six sleeping men piled from their bunks and..chased the cursing trail-boss. 1972Times 20 Nov. 8/6 Hundreds more piling off every train.
d. to pile on to (N. Amer.), to attack vigorously, to assail.
1894Outing XXIV. 417/1 The dog..[will] never ‘pile onto’ any more bears. 1906U. Sinclair Jungle xvi. 183 Like as not a dozen [policemen] would pile on to him at once, and pound his face into a pulp. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 30/1 The Australian tub, Gretel, hit the American scow, Intrepid, below the gunwale the other day, or tugged its saddle blanket, or piled on with unnecessary roughness.
e. To move or advance in a throng.
1925H. L. Foster Trop. Tramp with Tourists 102 The tourists piled towards the exits.
f. to pile in: to crash.
1944G. Netherwood Desert Squadron ii. 21 So low did Pilot Officer Weeks fly as he did the Victory Roll, that those watching him made certain that he would ‘pile in’.
4. trans. To cover or load with things heaped on.
1667Milton P.L. v. 632 Tables are set, and on a sudden pil'd With Angels Food. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. ii. vii. (1849) 120 By degrees a fleet of boats and canoes were piled up with all kinds of household articles. 1817Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves Poems (1862) 268 Gay thy grassy altar piled with fruits. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 552 Its floor Piled with provender for cattle.
▪ X. pile
obs. f. pill n.1, and pill v.1, to rob, etc. |