Pile Meaning
/paɪl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA mass of things heaped together; a heap.
nounA group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
Sentence Examples
They found out truth while examining a pile of relevant documents.
I reached into the pile and felt soft fabric.
They found the body buried beneath a pile of leaves.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After raking the yard, he created a tall ____ of dry leaves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She sorted through the ____ of old letters and found one written by her grandmother decades ago.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English pyle, from Old French pile, from Latin pīla (“pillar, pier”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me."
— 1889, H. Rider Haggard, Cleopatra^(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(Haggard)/Book_II/Chapter_XI), Book II: The Fall of Harmachis, →ISBN, Chapter XI:
"Jove with a Nod, comply'd with her Deſire; / Around the Body flam'd the Funeral Fire; / The Pile decreas'd that lately ſeem'd ſo high, / And Sheets of Smoak roll'd upward to the Sky: [...]"
— 1717, Samuel Croxall, “Book XIII. [The Funeral of Memnon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 463:
"When they are at work they live most frugally, denying themselves every comfort and luxury till they have made a "pile.""
— 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 192:
"The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture; […]"
— 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 124:
"The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight."
— 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
After raking the yard, he created a tall ____ of dry leaves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She sorted through the ____ of old letters and found one written by her grandmother decades ago.