What is "galvanic pile"

Pile \Pile\, n. [F. pile, L. pila a pillar, a pier or mole of stone. Cf. Pillar.]

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.
   --Dryden.

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. [F. pile pile, an engraved die, L. pila a pillar.] The reverse of a coin. See Reverse.

   Cross and pile. See under Cross.

   Dry pile. See under Dry.

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