Pile, n.
1. A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
Note: ☞ Tubular iron piles are now much used.
2. Her. One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles.
Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles.
Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile.
Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake.
Pile plank Hydraul. Eng., a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling.
Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic.
Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure.