Definition of Piles

Noun: piles pI(-u)lz

Pain caused by venous swelling at or inside the anal sphincter
- hemorrhoid [N. Amer], haemorrhoid [Brit, Cdn]
A large number or amount
"made piles of new friends";
- tons, dozens, heaps, lots, scores, stacks, loads, rafts, slews, wads, oodles, gobs [N. Amer], scads [N. Amer], lashings [Brit], many, masses [Brit]

Noun: pile pI(-u)l

A collection of objects laid on top of each other
- heap, mound, agglomerate, cumulation, cumulus
(often followed by 'of') a large number, amount or extent
"a pile of letters";
- batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle [archaic], mint, mountain, muckle, passel [US], peck, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, bunch
A large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)
"she made a pile selling real estate";
- bundle, big bucks, megabucks, big money, bomb [Brit]
Fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)
- down
Battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta
- voltaic pile, galvanic pile
A column of wood, steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure
- spile, piling, stilt
The yarn (as in a rug, velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave
"for uniform colour and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction";
- nap
A nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy
- atomic pile, atomic reactor, chain reactor

Verb: pile pI(-u)l

Arrange in stacks
"pile your books up on the shelves";
- stack, heap
Press tightly together or cram
- throng, mob, pack, jam
Place or lay as if in a pile
"The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested"