Pile vs Pole - What's the difference?

In obsolete terms the difference between pile and pole

is that pile is the reverse (or tails) of a coin while pole is the firmament; the sky.

In transitive terms the difference between pile and pole

is that pile is (of vehicles) To create a hold-up while pole is to induce piezoelectricity in (a substance) by aligning the dipoles.

pile

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) . Cognate with Dutch pijl, German Pfeil.

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) A dart; an arrow.

The head of an arrow or spear.

A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.

* {{quote-book, year=1719

, edition=10th edition , year_published=1864 , author= , title= , chapter= , section=Chapter VI citation , page=68 , passage=All this time I worked very hard [...] and it is scarce credible what inexpressible labour everything was done with, especially the bringing piles out of the woods and driving them into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I needed to have done.}}

(heraldiccharge) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.

Derived terms

* pile bridge * pile cap * pile driver * pile dwelling * pile engine * pile plank * pneumatic pile * screw pile

Verb

(pil)

To drive s into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.

Etymology 2

Apparently from pilus.

Noun

(en noun)

(usually in plural) A hemorrhoid.

Etymology 3

From (etyl) pile, (pille), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A mass of things heaped together; a heap.

* {{quote-book, year=1889

, author= , title= , volume_plain=Book II: The Fall of Harmachis , section=Chapter XI citation , isbn=1555211224 , page= , passage=I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me.}}

(figuratively, informal) A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.

When we were looking for a new housemate, we put the nice woman on the "maybe" pile''', and the annoying guy on the "no" '''pile .

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=December 29 , author=Keith Jackson , title=SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0 , work=Daily Record citation , page= , passage=And the moment it thumped into the net, Celtic’s march back to the top of the SPL pile also seemed unstoppable.}}

A mass formed in layers.

a pile of shot

A funeral pile; a pyre.

(Dryden)

A large building, or mass of buildings.

* Dryden

The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.

* 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , II.2:

The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture

* Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

It was dark when the four-wheeled cab wherein he had brought Avice from the station stood at the entrance to the pile of flats of which Pierston occupied one floor

A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.

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.

(obsolete) The reverse (or tails) of a coin.

(figuratively) A list or league

* '>citation

Watch Harlequins train and you get some idea of why they are back on top of the pile going into Saturday's rerun of last season's grand final against Leicester.

Synonyms

* See also

Verb

(pil)

To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; — often with up; as, to pile up wood.

To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}

To add something to a great number.

* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Owen Phillips, work=BBC

, title= Sunderland 0-2 Blackpool , passage=But as the second half wore on, Sunderland piled forward at every opportunity and their relentless pressure looked certain to be rewarded in the closing stages. }}

(of vehicles) To create a hold-up.

(military) To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.

Etymology 4

Partly from (etyl) pil (a variant of peil, .

Noun

(en noun)

Hair, especially when very fine or short; the fine underfur of certain animals. (Formerly countable, now treated as a collective singular.)

The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric; the nap of a cloth.

* (William Cowper)

Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile .

Anagrams

* English terms with multiple etymologies ----

pole

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pole, pal, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}

(angling) A type of basic fishing rod.

A long fiberglass sports implement used for pole-vaulting.

(slang, spotting) A telescope used to identify birds, aeroplanes or wildlife.

(historical) A unit of length, equal to a perch (¼ chain or 5½ yards).

(auto racing) Pole position.

(analysis) a singularity that behaves like

\frac{1}{z^n}

z = 0

Synonyms

* See also

Antonyms

* (analysis) root, zero

Derived terms

(terms derived from pole) * flagpole * maypole * poleaxe * pole vault

Verb

(pol)

To propel by pushing with poles, to push with a pole.

Huck Finn poled that raft southward down the Mississippi because going northward against the current was too much work.

To identify something quite precisely using a telescope.

He poled off the serial of the Gulfstream to confirm its identity.

To furnish with poles for support.

to pole beans or hops

To convey on poles.

to pole hay into a barn

To stir, as molten glass, with a pole.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) pole, .

Noun

(en noun)

Either of the two points on the earth's surface around which it rotates; also, similar points on any other rotating object.

A point of magnetic focus, especially each of the two opposing such points of a magnet (designated north and south).

(geometry) A fixed point relative to other points or lines.

(electricity) A contact on an electrical device (such as a battery) at which electric current enters or leaves.

(complex analysis) For a meromorphic function

f(z)

: a point

a

for which

f(z) \rightarrow \infty

z \rightarrow a

The function $f(z) = \frac{1}{z-3}$ has a single pole at $z = 3$ .

(obsolete) The firmament; the sky.

* Milton

shoots against the dusky pole

Antonyms

* (complex analysis) zero

Derived terms

* polar * polarity * dipole * monopole * north pole * south pole * poles apart * polestar, pole star * pole vault

Verb

(pol)

To induce piezoelectricity in (a substance) by aligning the dipoles.

Anagrams

* ----

Pile vs Pole - What's the difference?

In obsolete terms the difference between pile and pole

In transitive terms the difference between pile and pole

pile

English

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Verb

Etymology 2

Noun

Etymology 3

Noun

Synonyms

Verb

Related terms

Etymology 4

Noun

Anagrams

pole

English

Etymology 1

Noun

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Verb

Etymology 2

Noun

Antonyms

Derived terms

Verb

Anagrams