Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pile \Pile\, n. [AS. p[=i]l arrow, stake, L. pilum javelin; but cf. also L. pila pillar.]
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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.
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[Cf. F. pile.] (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.
Wiktionary
a. forceful n. 1 A machine for forcing a pile, a long beam, into the ground as part of the construction of a foundation; usually by raise a weight and then dropping it on the beam. 2 A person who hits or attacks forcefully or powerfully.
WordNet
n. a machine that drives piling into the ground
Wikipedia
A pile driver is a mechanical device used to drive piles (poles) into soil to provide foundation support for buildings or other structures. The term is also used in reference to members of the construction crew that work with pile-driving rigs.
One traditional type of pile driver includes a heavy weight placed between guides so that it is able to freely slide up and down in a single line. It is placed above a pile (pole). The weight is raised, which may involve the use of hydraulics, steam, diesel, or manual labour. When the weight reaches its highest point it is then released and smashes on to the pile in order to drive it into the ground.
Usage examples of "pile driver".
Raith cast a snarl at me and shoved down on the knife, his own skin luminous, and he had the power of a pile driver behind his arms.
Then it comes down like a pile driver on what is left of his good judgment.
The black gavel fell with the precision of a pile driver and the sound bounced back and forth inside Carl's head.
He did create Morgenstern, out of Shadows, fusing into the beast the strength and speed of a hurricane and a pile driver.
Fortunately, the hatch covers on each end of the connecting tube held, or the water would have burst into the crew's sphere like a pile driver and mashed them into bloody paste.
Flippers battered at him, until Dieter's big fist struck the side of its small head like a pile driver.
Hagic's head rocked back, a gargled grunt bursting out of his mouth in a fine spray of blood, and Ryan's left hand, fist balled, rocked into his stomach with the force of a pile driver.