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Pile vs Shag - What's the difference?

pile | shag | Synonyms |

Pile is a synonym of shag.


As nouns the difference between pile and shag

is that pile is diligence while shag is matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc or shag can be several species of sea birds in the family phalacrocoracidae (cormorant family), especially the , phalacrocorax aristotelis , found on european and african coasts or shag can be a swing dance or shag can be (canada|northwestern ontario) a fundraising dance in honour of a couple engaged to be married.

As a verb shag is

to make hairy or shaggy; to roughen or shag can be to shake, wiggle around.

As an adjective shag is

(obsolete) hairy; shaggy.

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.

    • Related terms

    * funeral pile * pile bridge * pile driver * pile cap * pile on * pile up

    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 ----

    shag

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ), from Old Norse skaga, to protrude.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc.
  • * (John Gay)
    • true Witney broadcloth, with its shag unshorn
  • Coarse shredded tobacco.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 535:
    • He was rather unshaven as well and smelt strongly of shag .
  • A type of rough carpet pile.
    • Derived terms
    * shaggy * shagginess * shaggy-dog story * shagger

    Verb

    (shagg)
  • To make hairy or shaggy; to roughen.
  • * J. Barlow
    • Shag the green zone that bounds the boreal skies.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) hairy; shaggy
    • (Shakespeare)

    Etymology 2

    (Common Shag) Perhaps a derivative of Etymology 1, above, with reference to the bird's shaggy crest.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Several species of sea birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant family), especially the , Phalacrocorax aristotelis , found on European and African coasts.
  • *1941 , (Ernestine Hill), My Love Must Wait , A&R Classics 2013, p. 7:
  • *:He ran back and picked up a dead bird that had fallen. It was not a duck but a shag .
    • Derived terms
    * Auckland shag () * Bounty shag () * Campbell shag () * Chatham shag () * Heard shag () * imperial shag () * Kerguelen shag () * king shag () * Macquarie shag () * Stewart Island shag ()

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm.

    Verb

    (shagg)
  • To shake, wiggle around.
  • To have sexual intercourse with.
  • To masturbate.
  • To chase after; especially, to chase after and return (a ball) hit usually out of play
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1974 , year_published=1999 , edition=paperback , editor= , author=Robert M. Pirsig , title=Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , chapter= , url= , genre= , publisher=Harper Torch , isbn=9780060589462 , page=77 , passage=Chris is off somewhere in the darkness, but I'm not going to shag after him. }}
  • To perform the dance called the shag.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A swing dance.
  • (slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
  • * 2007 , Julie Andrews, "Roman Must Die", in The Leonard Variations: Clarion 2007 San Diego , ISBN 9787774574500, page 10:
    • They were in the midst of an intense snog, his tongue down her throat as he tried to work out if he wanted another shag before she left for the night, when an odd noise sounded from behind the door of 2B.
  • * 2010 , Clara Darling, Hot City Nights , St. Martin's Press (2010), ISBN 9780312536954, page 107:
    • “And feel free to come over anytime you'd like a drink and a shag .
  • * 2011 , Josephine Myles, Barging In , Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (2011), ISBN 9781609285920, page 24:
    • He could say yes, then just quietly leave the area without ever seeing the man again. He could even get a shag out of Charles first.
  • (slang) A casual sexual partner.
  • * 2003 , Freya North, Pip , Harper (2003), ISBN 9780007462254, unnumbered page:
    • 'It turned out that it was me who was just a shag to him . He had a girlfriend I didn't know about. He presumed I was up for some no-strings action. And the thing is, I thought I was – in theory. But in practice, I realized that I wasn't.'
  • * 2008 , Bruce Cooke, Trace Elements , Eternal Press (2008), ISBN 9781897559369, page 56:
    • "Was I just another shag to you, Trace? Someone to bed when the offer came?"
  • * 2011 , Wes Lee, "Saul", in The Sleepers Almanac, No. 7 (eds. Zoe Dattner & Louise Swinn), Sleepers Publishing (2011), ISBN 9781742702995, page 135:
    • 'Your favourite shag ?' I ask her.
    'Martin Kershen.'
    'He was a sexy beast.'
    Synonyms
    * (casual sexual partner) see also .

    Etymology 4

    Blend of .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Canada, Northwestern Ontario) A fundraising dance in honour of a couple engaged to be married.
    • Synonyms
    * stag and doe, stag and doe party (qualifier) * social, wedding social (qualifier)

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * gash * hags

    Synonyms

    * See also English blends English terms with unknown etymologies ----