Pile, n.
 1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood.
 2. A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot.
 3. A funeral pile; a pyre.
 4. A large building, or mass of buildings.
    The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.   --Dryden.
 5. Iron Manuf. Same as Fagot, n., 2.
 6. Elec. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; -- commonly called Volta's pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
 Note: ☞ The term is sometimes applied to other forms of apparatus designed to produce a current of electricity, or as synonymous with battery; as, for instance, to an apparatus for generating a current of electricity by the action of heat, usually called a thermopile.
 7.  The reverse of a coin. See Reverse.
 Cross and pile. See under Cross.
 Dry pile. See under Dry.


 Vol·ta·ic a.
 1. Of or pertaining to Alessandro Volta, who first devised apparatus for developing electric currents by chemical action, and established this branch of electric science; discovered by Volta; as, voltaic electricity.
 2. Of or pertaining to voltaism, or voltaic electricity; as, voltaic induction; the voltaic arc.
 Note: ☞ See the Note under Galvanism.
 Voltaic arc, a luminous arc, of intense brilliancy, formed between carbon points as electrodes by the passage of a powerful voltaic current.
 Voltaic battery, an apparatus variously constructed, consisting of a series of plates or pieces of dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, arranged in pairs, and subjected to the action of a saline or acid solution, by which a current of electricity is generated whenever the two poles, or ends of the series, are connected by a conductor; a galvanic battery.  See Battery, 4. (b), and Note.
 Voltaic circuit. See under Circuit.
 Voltaic couple or Voltaic element, a single pair of the connected plates of a battery.
 Voltaic electricity. See the Note under Electricity.
 Voltaic pile, a kind of voltaic battery consisting of alternate disks of dissimilar metals, separated by moistened cloth or paper.  See 5th Pile.
 Voltaic protection of metals, the protection of a metal exposed to the corrosive action of sea water, saline or acid liquids, or the like, by associating it with a metal which is positive to it, as when iron is galvanized, or coated with zinc.

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 voltaic pile
      n : battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the
          earliest electric battery devised by Volta [syn: pile,
          galvanic pile]