pile

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A number of things lying on top of one another; a heap.

   There was a huge pile of clothes on her bedroom floor.

2. 2
   verb

   To put things on top of one another, or to add a large amount of something.

   She piled the books neatly on the desk.

3. 3
   noun

   A large amount of money.

   He made a pile from selling his old company.

4. 4
   noun

   A group of related items being sorted or considered.

   Put the urgent letters in this pile and the rest over there.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

The different senses of pile have three separate Latin origins. Pile “heap” came in late Middle English through Old French from Latin pila “pillar, pier”; pile “heavy supporting post” descends through Old English pīl “dart, arrow; pointed stake,” an early Germanic borrowing of Latin pilum “heavy javelin.” The carpet pile, first recorded in Middle English as “downy feather,” comes from Latin pilus “hair” and acquired its present sense in the mid-16th century.

From French pile (“battery”), with the pronunciation adapted to the existing English word pile. Doublet of Etymology 1, which may have influenced the sense development by emphasizing the stack (“pile”) out of which early batteries were made.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary