PILE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
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English (UK)

Meaning of pile in English

pile
noun
uk
/paɪl/ us
/paɪl/

pile noun (AMOUNT)

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B1 [ C ]
objects positioned one on top of another:
a pile of books
a pile of dirty clothes
 
Francisco Rama/EyeEm/GettyImages
B1 [ C ]
a mass of something that has been placed somewhere:
a large pile of sand
 
Image Source/GettyImages
a pile of sth/piles of sth
informal
a lot of something:
I've got piles/a pile of things to do today.
Obviously, nobody intends to make a pile of terrible movies.
They hope that these new drugs will make them a pile of cash.
There are piles of people looking for jobs in this area.
We had to pay piles of money to get the work done.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Masses and large amounts of things
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pile noun (COLUMN)

[ C ]
a strong column or post of wood, metal, or concrete that is pushed into the ground to help support a building
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Physical supports and supporting
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pile noun (SURFACE)

[ S ]
the soft surface made by the ends of many short threads on a carpet or on cloth such as velvet:
a luxurious deep-pile carpet
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Carpets, rugs & other floor coverings
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

pile noun (BUILDING)

[ C ] mainly humorous
a large building:
They've got a great big Victorian pile somewhere out in the country.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Houses & homes
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pile noun (MEDICAL)

piles [ plural ] informal
→  haemorrhoids UK specialized :
Ask your pharmacist about the best treatment for piles.
They told us we'd get piles if we sat on the cold wall.
What's the best way to stop piles from itching?
The doctor told her she had piles.
Sometimes people need surgery to remove painful or very itchy piles.

Idiom

make a pile
pile
verb
uk
/paɪl/ us
/paɪl/

pile verb (OBJECTS)

[ I or T, + adv/prep ]
(also pile up)
to arrange objects into a pile:
We piled plenty of logs up next to the fire.
Please pile your homework books neatly on the table as you leave.
Her plate was piled (high) with salad.
Snow had piled up against the walls.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Placing and positioning an object
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pile verb (PEOPLE)

[ I usually + adv/prep ] informal
(of a group of people) to move together, especially in an uncontrolled way:
As soon as the train stopped, they all piled in/out.
A group of them had piled onto a truck, crowding on in such numbers that some were forced to sit on the roof.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Arriving, entering and invading
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Idioms

pile it high and sell it cheap
pile it on
pile on the agony
pile on the pounds

Phrasal verbs

pile on
pile on/onto (someone)
pile something on
pile something onto someone
pile (something) up
(Definition of pile from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

pile | American Dictionary

pile
noun
us
/pɑɪl/

pile noun (THINGS)

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[ C ]
a number of things lying on top of each other:
a pile of newspapers
After dinner there is always a pile of dishes to be washed.
[ C ]
infml A pile or piles can also be a lot of something:
I’ve got piles of homework.

pile noun (SURFACE)

[ U ]
the soft surface of short threads on a carpet (= material for covering a floor) or on some types of cloth:
carpets with a deep pile
pile
verb
us
/pɑɪl/

pile verb (MOVE)

[ I always + adv/prep ]
(of a group of people) to move together, esp. in a way that is not organized:
About ten kids piled into the room, all talking at once.
Someone yelled "Fire!" and we all piled out into the street.

pile verb (THINGS)

[ always + adv/prep ]
to put (things) near or on top of each other, or to collect in this way:
[ I ] Magazines just pile up on my desk at work.
[ M ] I asked her to pile on extra potatoes.

Phrasal verb

pile up
(Definition of pile from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

pile | Business English

pile
noun [ C ]
uk
/paɪl/ us
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a large amount of something:
a pile of cash/money
consumers with piles of credit card debt
I have piles of paperwork to finish.
at the bottom/top of the pile
at the bottom or top of a group of competing things:
Despite a shaky first quarter, the athletic shoe producer has once again emerged at the top of the pile.

See also

cash pile
stockpile noun
pile
verb
uk
/paɪl/ us
pile it high, sell it cheap
COMMERCE
said when a store sells large amounts of a product at cheap prices, without spending effort or money on displays, advertising, etc.:
The discount grocer is once again thriving at the pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap end of the market.
(Definition of pile from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of pile

pile
Many seeds were recorded as having disappeared when they had been moved from their original piles (12.9%).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The upstream front then propagates upstream as the flow piles up (blocking).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The evidence, or perhaps the rhetorical use of evidence, seems to be piling up.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Thus, action sequence 3 is applied which consists of moveforward_down and moveforward_up actions to penetrate the rock pile by wiggling in between the rock particles.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The cameraman follows them inside, pausing briefly over a pile of shoes (10-15 pair) at the door.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
No rock lines or rock piles were discovered in the course of the survey.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
As a further interpretation, consider a 'linear machine' in which a pile of c chips are c split evenly, with 2d going in each direction.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
She begins the novel in the assumed persona of a young widowed painter who moves into a crumbling pile in an isolated village.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
First they sprinkle the beach with pots using seawater, and after two or three sprinklings, they pile the sand up.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Unlike steamboats, the piling up of bodies did not result from a few dramatic accidents.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A heap of skulls was piled outside this front gate.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Cassowaries consume the fruit whole, when ripe, and defecate seeds in piles away from parent trees, where seed predation rates are lower.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Two further samples were taken from the middle of the stored manure piles after 3 months, 6 months and a year.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Once the piles are made they take two ollas or tinajas and put one on top of the other.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
She sweats to pile up virtues for the man.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of pile
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with pile

pile

These are words often used in combination with pile.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

compost pile
Bulk samples from the center of the compost pile were collected and mixed.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
discard pile
They may not be taken from the discard pile, and are useless if found in the hand.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
huge pile
The book's cover features a photograph of a young boy sitting at a breakfast table with a huge pile of pancakes.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with pile
What is the pronunciation of pile?
 

Translations of pile

in Chinese (Traditional)
數量, 疊, 垛…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
数量, 摞, 垛…
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in Spanish
montón, pila, pila [feminine…
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in Portuguese
monte, pilha, pilha [feminine]…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
चळत, ढीग…
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うず高く積み上げられたもの, 積（つ）み重（かさ）ね, たくさｎ…
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yığın, küme, çok…
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pile [feminine], tas [masculine], empiler…
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munt, pila…
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stapel, hoop, opstapelen…
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பொருள்கள் ஒன்றை மற்றொன்றின் மேல் நிலை நிறுத்துதல், எங்கோ வைக்கப்பட்ட ஏதோ ஒன்றின் குவியல்…
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(एक के ऊपर एक रखी वस्तुओं का) ढेर, ढेर, किसी चीज़ का एक ढेर जिसे कहीं रखा गया हो…
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થપ્પો, ઢગલો…
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bunke, dynge, stable…
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hög, stapel, trave…
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timbunan, bertimbun-timbun, melonggokkan…
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der Haufen, aufhäufen, der Pfahl…
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haug [masculine], bunke [masculine], drøss [masculine]…
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ایک دوسرے پر رکھا ہونا, کہیں پر کسی چیز کا انبارپڑا ہونا…
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в'язка, пакунок, купа…
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куча, груда, стопка…
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ఒకదానిపై ఒకటి పేర్చబడిన వస్తువులు, ఎక్కడో ఉంచబడిన ఏదైనా ఒక ద్రవ్యరాశి…
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كَوْمة…
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স্তূপ, রাশিকৃত, ডাঁই…
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stoh, hromada, moře…
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tumpukan, setumpuk, menumpuk…
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กอง, จำนวนมาก, สุมไว้เป็นกอง…
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đống: chồng, số lượng lớn, xếp thành chồng…
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stos, sterta, kupa…
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더미…
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catasta, pila, mucchio…
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Pilates
pilau
pilchard
pilcrow
pile
pile (something) up
pile it high and sell it cheap idiom
pile it on idiom
pile on
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