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PILE , an homonymous word, of which the See also:main branches are (1) a heap, through Fr. from pila, See also:pillar; (2) a heavy See also:beam used in making See also:foundations, literally a pointed stake, an See also:adaptation of See also:Lat. pilum, See also:javelin; (3) the See also:nap on See also:cloth, Lat. pilus, See also:hair. In the first See also:branch the Lat. pila (for pigla, from See also:root of pangere, to fasten) meant also a See also:pier or See also:mole of See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone, hence any See also:mass of See also:masonry, as in Fr. pile. In See also:English usage the word chiefly means a " heap " or " mass " of See also:objects laid one on the See also:top of the other, such as the heap of faggots or other combustible material on which a dead See also:body is cremated, " funeral pile," or on which a living See also:person is burnt as a See also:punishment. It also is applied to a large and lofty See also:building, and specifically, to a stand of arms, " piled in military See also:fashion, and to the See also:series of plates, " galvanic " or " voltaic piles," in an electric See also:battery. The See also:modern " See also:head and tail " of a See also:coin was formerly " See also:cross and pile," Fr. croix et pile, in modern Fr. See also:face et pile. In the older apparatus for minting the See also:die for the See also:reverse was placed on a small upright pillar, pile, the other on a puncheon known as a " trussell " (Fr. trousseau). The See also:common name of the disease of See also:haemorrhoids (q.v.) or " piles " is probably an See also:extension of this word, in the sense of mass, swelling, but may be referred to the Lat. pila, See also:ball. The name of the pilum, or heavy javelin (lit. pounder, pestle, from pinsere, pisere, to See also:beat), the See also:chief weapon of the See also:ancient See also:Roman See also:infantry, was adopted into many See also:Teutonic See also:languages in the sense of dart or arrow, cf. Germ. Pfeil; in English it was chiefly used of a heavy stake with one end sharpened, and driven into swampy ground or in the See also:bed of a See also:river to See also:form the first foundations for a building; the See also:primitive See also:lake-dwellings built on " piles " are also known as " pile-dwellings." For the use of piles in building see FOUNDATIONS and See also:BRIDGES. In See also:heraldry a See also:charge represented by two lines See also:- MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
meeting in the form of an arrow head is known as a " pile," a See also:direct adaptation probably of the Lat. pilum. The See also:division of this intricate word, followed here, is that adopted by the New English See also:Dictionary; other etymologists (e.g. See also:Skeat, Etym. See also:Diet., 1898) arrange the words and their Latin originals somewhat differently.
End of Article: PILE
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