pile1

noun

• a heap of things laid or lying one on top of another:he placed the books in a neat pile
• informal a large amount of something:the growing pile of work
• informal a lot of money:he is admired for having made a pile for himself
• a large imposing building or group of buildings:a Victorian Gothic pile
• a series of plates of dissimilar metals laid one on another alternately to produce an electric current.
• dated term for nuclear reactor.
• archaic a funeral pyre.

verb

• 1 [with object] place (things) one on top of another:she piled all the groceries on the counter
• (be piled with) be stacked or loaded with:his in-box was piled high with papers
• (pile up) [no object] increase in quantity:the work has piled up
• (pile something up) cause to increase in quantity:the debts he piled up
• (pile something on) informal intensify or exaggerate something for effect:you can pile on the guilt, but my heart has turned to stone

• 2 [no object] (pile in/out) (of a group of people) get into or out of a vehicle in a disorganized manner:we all piled in and headed off to our mysterious destination my students piled out of three cars
• (pile into) (of a vehicle) crash into:60 cars piled into each other on I-95