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.


 pile dwelling
      n : dwelling built on piles in or near a lake; specifically in
          prehistoric villages [syn: lake dwelling]