pile

Multiple Entries:
  pile    Pelion  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pile1

▶noun

• 1 a heap of things laid or lying one on top of another.

  ■ informal a large amount: the growing pile of work.

• 2 a large imposing building: a Gothic pile.

• 3 a series of plates of dissimilar metals laid one on another alternately to produce an electric current.

▶verb

• 1 place (things) one on top of the other.

  ■ (be piled with) be stacked or loaded with.

  ■ (pile up) form a pile or large quantity.

  ■ (pile something on) informal intensify or exaggerate something for effect.

• 2 (pile into/out of) get into or out of (a vehicle) in a disorganized manner.

  ■ (pile into) crash into.

– phrases
make a pile informal make a lot of money.
pile arms Military place a number of rifles with their butts on the ground and the muzzles together.

– origin ME: from OFr., from L. pila ‘pillar, pier’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pile2

▶noun

• 1 a heavy stake or post driven into the ground to support the foundations of a superstructure.

• 2 Heraldry a triangular charge or ordinary formed by two lines meeting at an acute angle, usually pointing down from the top of the shield.

▶verb strengthen with piles.

– derivatives
piling noun.

– origin OE pīl ‘dart, arrow’, also ‘stake’, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pile3

▶noun the soft projecting surface of a carpet or a fabric such as velvet, consisting of many small threads.

– origin ME: from L. pilus ‘hair’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Pelion /ˈpiːlɪən/

▶noun (in phr. pile or heap Pelion on Ossa) literary add an extra difficulty to something which is already onerous.

– origin the name of a mountain in Greece; the giants of Greek mythology were said to have piled Mounts Olympus and Ossa on its summit in their attempt to reach heaven and destroy the gods.