pile 
cut short at the pointed end, and having the end divided 
Into thre* projecting point*. 
pile :i (pil), . [< MK. /.(/ . n heap (the AS. *pil, 
a heap, i- not authorized, being due to a misin- 
terpretation), < OF. pile, f., a heap, pile, stack, 
K. iiile, a heap, voltaic pile, etc. ; appar. a par- 
ticular use ol pile, a pier of stone, etc. (whence 
any pile of stones or other things, etc.); but 
according to some < L. /<i/, a ball (of. pilrx). 
('(. /<iV-.] 1 . A heap consisting of an indefinite 
number of separate objects, commonly of the 
same kind, arranged of purpose or by natural 
causes in a more or less regular (cubical, py- 
ramidal, cylindrical, or conical) form ; a large 
mass, or a large quantity : as, a pile of stones ; 
a pile of wood; A pile of money or of grain. 
What pilei of wealth hath he accumulated 
To hl< own portion ! Shot., Hen. VIII., I1L 2. 107. 
You pil* of mountains, shining likea white summer cloud 
In the nine sky. Irving, Alhambra, p. 121. 
Specifically 2. A funeral pile ; a pyre. See 
funeral pile, nndei funeral. 
Woe to the bloody city ! I will even make the pile for fire 
great. Ezek. xxlv. 9. 
The father makes the pile : hereon he layes 
His bond led, blind-led .Son. 
NyteeMer, Maiden's Blush (trans.). 
3. An oblong rectangular mass of cut lengths 
of puddled bars of iron, laid together and ready 
for being rolled after being raised to a welding- 
temperature in a reheating-furnace. The site of 
a pile and the quality of the Iron of which it is composed 
vary according to special requirements, the same pile some- 
time* containing widely different qualities of Iron in Its 
different part*. 
4. In elect., a series of plates of two dissimilar 
metals, such as copper and zinc, laid one above 
the other alternately, with cloth or paper placed 
between each pair, moistened with an acid so- 
lution, for producing a current of electricity. 
See electricity. The term Is sometimes used as synon- 
ymous with battery, for any form of apparatus designed 
to produce a current of dynamic electricity. It in also 
applied to an apparatus for detecting slight changes of 
temperature. 8ee thermopile. 
5. A large amount of money ; a fortune : as, he 
has made his pile. [Slang, U. 8.] 
Great fortunes grow with the growing prosperity of the 
country, and the opportunity it offers of amassing enor- 
mous pilei by bold operations. 
Bryce, Amer. Commonwealth, II. 704. 
Dry pile, an electric pile or battery consisting of a series 
of disks, generally of paper or leather, coated on one side 
with silver or tin and on the other with finely powdered 
blnoxld of manganese. These are arranged with the sil- 
ver of each disk in contact with the manganese of the next, 
tin whole forming a batten* the action of which, due to the 
hygroscopic character of the paper disk, is remarkably per- 
manent. Funeral pile. See/uiK-ra/. 
They conveyed them unto the Suiirrall pile on beeres. 
Sandyi, Travalles, p. 66. 
Poles of a voltaic pile. See jwfr-'.-Volta's pile. See 
battery, 8. 
pile- 1 (pil), r. t. ; pret. and pp. piled, ppr. piling. 
[< pile 3 , n.] 1. To lay or throw into a heap; 
heap, or heap up; collect into a pile or mass: 
as, to jtile wood or stones. 
Or pUe ten hills on the Tarpelan rock. 
Shak., Cor., III. 2. 8. 
The sickening toll 
I straw on straw to reach the sky. 
amMorru, Earthly Paradise, III. 211. 
2. To bring into an aggregate; accumulate: 
as, to pile quotations or comments. 
Life piled on life 
Were all too little. Tennymn, I'lysses. 
3. Same as fagot, 2. -To pile arms, in man. tac- 
rfa, to place three muskets or rifles with fixed bayonet* in 
inch a relative position that the butt* shall remain firm 
upon the ground, and the inuulea be close together In an 
olilliine direction. Called to ttack arm* In modern tactics. 
pile* (pil), . [= OF. nril,poil, F. ]><>il = Pr. 
nl, ]>elk, peil = Sp. jM-ln = I'g.wllo = It. pelo, 
... y/l/M.-j, a hair, the hair. Hence ult. (from 
li. jrilux) E. dejiile, depilate, depilatory, pttfl, 
pelfuce, plush, jieruke (with periwig and icij;), 
and prob. also pluck*.] 1. Hair. 
The beard Is represented by two tangled toft* upon the 
rhln : where whiskers should be, the place Is either bare 
or thinly covered with straggling pile. 
R. f. Burton, El-Medlnah, p. WO. 
2. Specifically, in hunting, in the plural, the 
hair or fur of an animal, as the boar, wolf, fox, 
hem-e, liHirxeollectively; pelage. 3. The 
lay or set of the hiiir. 4. A fiber, as of wool 
-5. In fiitiim.. thinly set fine hairs 
which are ordinarily rather long. 6. Nap of 
a regular and closely set kind, consisting of 
threads "landing close together and shaved off 
smooth, so as to form n uniform and even sur- 
Is of pile always have a certain in-li 
nation In e direction as regards the .tun, and can be 
on-Hied or depnased In that dip 
4486 
them the other way roughens the surface. The longest 
pile of any textile fabric Is perhaps that of certain Orien- 
tal carpets; this, when of fine goat's hair, has a beautiful 
gloss. The pile of velvet Is sometimes of two different 
height* or lengths. 
Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile. 
Cowper, Task, 1. 11. 
Cut Pile In a fabric, a pile woven In loops which are af- 
terward cut so as to give a smooth surface composed of 
the ends of the fibers, as In velvet, plush, etc. - Double 
pile Same as pile upon pile: said of velvet. Pile car- 
pet. See carpet. - Pile upon pile, an arrangement in 
which a part of the pile is shorter than another part, as in 
velvet, In which a pattern Is produced in this way, the pile 
of a flower or leaf being perhaps twice as high as that of 
the background. 
pile 4 (pil), v. t.; pret. and pp. piled, ppr. ntting. 
[(pile*, n.] To furnish with pile; make shaggy. 
Thou art good velvet ; thon 'rt a three-pifed piece, I 
warrant thee : I had a* lief be a list of an English kersey 
as be piled as thou cat piled for a French velvet. 
Shot., M. for M., I. 2. S3. 
His cloak of crimson velvet piled, 
Trimmed with the fur of marten wild. 
Scott, Marmlon, v. 8. 
pile 5 (pil), P. ' ; pret. and pp. piled, ppr. piling. 
[< ME. piten, var. of pillen, ult. < L. pllare, 
deprive of hair : see/rift 2 , of which pile& is thus 
tilt, a variant. Cf. peel*, with which pile 6 may 
have been confused. ] To break off the awns of 
(threshed barley). J"Prov. Eng.] 
pile (i t, ' A Middle English form otpill*. 
Pilea (pi'le-a), . [NL. (Lindley, 1821 ), so called 
with ref. to the original species, in which one of 
the three sepals is enlarged into a hood over the 
fruit; < Ij.pileus, a felt cap: see pileus.] 1. A 
genus of apetalous herbs of the order Urticaceae, 
tribe Urticex, and subtribe Procridex, distin- 
guished by the equilateral opposite leaves and 
loosely branched or somewhat condensed green- 
ish cymes. There are about 175 species, for the most 
part sinall weedy plants, widely dispersed throughout the 
tropics except In Australia, with one, P. pumila, the clear- 
weed or richweed, with translucent watery stem, common 
In rich woodlands of the United States. Many species 
have the peculiarity of developing one leaf of a pair very 
much larger than that opposite. See artillery-plant, burn- 
ing-buih, 2 (b), cleartreed, coolweed, and dwarf elder (under 
elder), the last peculiar in this genus (mainly of weeds) from 
having a woody stem. 
2. [/. <.] Plural of pileum. 
pileata (pil-e-a'ta), a. [L., fern, of pileatus, 
capped: so* pileate.] Capped that is, covered 
or stopped: applied to organ-pipes pileata 
dlapenta, a stopped quint. Pileata major, a stopped 
16-foot pipe. Pileata minor, a stopped 4-foot pipe. 
pileate (pil'e-at), a. [< L. piteatux, pilleatus, 
capped, bonneted, < pileus, pillevs, a cap: see 
mleus.] 1. Capped; specifically, in l>ot., hav- 
ing a pileus or cap, as certain fungi. See 
Agaricus. 2. Having the form of a cap or 
cover for the head. See cut under Crypturus. 
A pileated echinus taken up with different shells of 
several kinds. Woodward. 
pileated (pil'f-a-ted), a. [< pileate + -c (P.] 1. 
Same as pilea'te. 2. In ornith., crested; having 
the feathers of the pileum elongated and con- 
spicuous: as, the 
pileated wood- 
pecker pileat- 
ed woodpecker, 
llylotomus (or Ce- 
nphlcfut) ptientuft, 
the largest wood- 
pecker of North 
America excepting 
the ivorybill, local- 
ly known as logcock 
or black logcock. It 
is usually 16 to 18 
Inches long, and 
about 28 In extent 
of wings ; the color 
Is slaty-black, con- 
spicuously striped 
with white or pale 
>!]] iwish on the 
head and neck, this 
color also varying 
the hidden part* 
Piloted Woodnecker (/.>;<./, of the wings; the 
fittatHj) male has the whole 
pileum scarlet; in 
the female the crest is scarlet on the posterior half only. 
This flue bird Inhabits all the heavily wooded regions of 
the country, where It represent* the great black wood- 
pecker of Europe, Pinu or Dryocopui martiut. 
pile-beam (pil'bera), n. A separate warp-beam, 
upon which is wound and carried the pile-warp : 
distinguished from the usual warp-beam of a 
loom, 
pile-bridge (pil'l>rij), n. A bridge consisting of 
a platform supported liv piles. It Is probably the 
earliest form of bridge, and Is still largely used, especially 
over shallow wster and marshy ground. 
pile-builder (pil'bil'der), n. One who erects a 
structure on piles; speeilieiilly, one of a com- 
munity which customarily dwells in huts or 
Pileopsidae 
cabins erected on piles over a body of water, 
as the ancient lake-dwellers, and some savage 
peoples of the present day. See lake-dwelling, 
paujUte, 
As regards India, It seems to me there are good reasons 
for believing these pile builder* are the direct descendants 
of the pre-Aryan aboriginals. Nature, XXX 160. 
pile-cap (pil'kap), n. In hydraul. engin., a beam 
connecting the heads of piles. 
pile-clamp (pil'klamp), . In surg., an instru- 
ment for clamping hemorrhoids previous to ex- 
cision. 
piled (pild), a. [< pile* + -c(P.] 1. Having 
a pile, as an arrow. 2. Supported on or by 
piles. 
Among those who build on piles many live and sleep on 
the ground, using the piled part of the house for other 
purposes. Nature, XXX. 109. 
pile-dam (pil'dam), . A dam made by driving 
piles and filling the interstices with stones. 
The surfaces are usually protected with plank- 
ing. 
pile-driyer (pi}'dri*v6r), n. 1. A workman oc- 
cupied in driving piles. 2. A machine or con- 
trivance, usually worked by steam, for driving 
piles. A common form, shown In the cut, consists of a 
a t, framework ; c, the monkey a block of cast-iron with guide- 
ways which slide on vertical guides on the inner faces of the upright 
parts b of the framework ; a, nippers; f. inclines which engage the 
anns of the nippers and release the monkey ; /. hoisting pulley. The 
hoisting-rope is attached to the nippers, and the nippers engage a 
shouldered projection on the top of the monkey. 
large ram or block of Iron, which slides between two guide- 
post*. Being drawn up to the top, and then let fall from 
a considerable height. It comes down on the head of the 
pile with a violent blow. 
pile-dwelling (pil'dwel'ing), . A dwelling 
built on piles, especially an ancient lake-dwell- 
ing; apalafitte. Compare pile-builder. 
pile-engine (pil'en'jin), . An engine for driv- 
ing piles. See pile-driver. 
pile-hoop (pil'ho'p), . An iron band put round 
the head of a timber pile to prevent splitting. 
pilei, n. Plural of pileus. 
pileiform (pil'e-i-fdrm), a. [= F. pile\forme,<'L. 
pileus, 7iWeH.s,'acap, + forma, shape.] Having 
the form of a pileus; pileated in shape. 
pilementt (piKment), . [< pile^, r., + -meat.'] 
An accumulation. 
Cottti pUemenU of some curious stone. 
&. SOU, Satires, in. II. 16. 
Pileolares (pil'e-o-la'rez), n. [NL. (Pries, 
1825), < L. pileolufi, etc., dim. of pileus, a cap: 
see pHeolun, J A tribe of hyrnenomycetous f ungi 
of tne suborder Tn tm Iliiii, according to Eim- 
lidicr. The receptacle is mernbranaccous, and 
the hymenium inferior, free. Also Helotiri. 
pileolu8(pi-le'o-lus), .; p\.pilcoli(-\l). [NL.. 
< L. pili-iiliix, jiilleolug, also pili <>l n >", i>Jlltvlum, 
dim. of )iilii(x, i>illrn.i. a cap: sec jiilr M.S.] 1. In 
.:"<</. and hot., a little pileus; some small cap- 
like or lid-like body; specifically, the recepta- 
cle of certain fungi. 2. ['/'. 1 A genus of 
gastropods of the family .Ym/iVfcr. belonging to 
the Oolite, having no spire, the shell ) 
Ming that of a limpet. 
Pileopsidse (pil-e-op'si-de), n. pi. [XL., < /''- 
It'i/iKix + -i</>.] A family of gastropods, 
from tlit- genus J'ileopsis : same as 
