{
    "term": "pile",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a number of things that have been placed on top of each other",
            "sensetop": "pile of somethingin/into a pile",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a pile of clothes/paper",
                    "contextForm": "pile of something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I found it in a pile of documents on his desk."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The hats were stacked in neat piles.",
                    "contextForm": "in/into a pile"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I've sorted the books into three separate piles."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He arranged the documents in neat piles."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was busy behind a pile of papers on his desk."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I grabbed a shirt from the top of the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I leafed through the pile of documents until I found the one I wanted."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I pulled my diary from beneath a pile of files."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I put the letter in the envelope and placed it on the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I sorted the clothes into two piles."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Just add that application to the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She closed the magazine and threw it back on the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The clothes were in a pile on the floor."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The money lay amid a pile of unopened letters."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was sorting the books into piles."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "enormous", "great"],
                "verb + pile": [
                    "place something in/​into/​on",
                    "put something in/​into/​on",
                    "dump"
                ],
                "preposition": [
                    "amid a/​the pile",
                    "behind a/​the pile",
                    "beneath a/​the pile"
                ],
                "phrases": [
                    "be reduced to a pile of something",
                    "the bottom of the pile",
                    "the top of the pile"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a mass of something that is high in the middle and wider at the bottom than at the top",
            "sensetop": "pile of something",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "piles of dirty washing",
                    "contextForm": "pile of something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The house was reduced to a **pile of rubble**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He threw the remaining stones onto the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was spreading a small pile of manure around the strawberry plants."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The body was hidden under a pile of leaves."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He dumped a pile of dirty clothes onto the floor."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "heap",
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "enormous", "great"],
                "verb + pile": [
                    "place something in/​into/​on",
                    "put something in/​into/​on",
                    "dump"
                ],
                "preposition": [
                    "amid a/​the pile",
                    "behind a/​the pile",
                    "beneath a/​the pile"
                ],
                "phrases": [
                    "be reduced to a pile of something",
                    "the bottom of the pile",
                    "the top of the pile"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "a lot of something",
            "sensetop": "pile of something",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He made a **pile of cash** on the sale of his house."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He walked out leaving a pile of debt behind him."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I have got piles of work to do."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "enormous", "great"],
                "verb + pile": [
                    "place something in/​into/​on",
                    "put something in/​into/​on",
                    "dump"
                ],
                "preposition": [
                    "amid a/​the pile",
                    "behind a/​the pile",
                    "beneath a/​the pile"
                ],
                "phrases": [
                    "be reduced to a pile of something",
                    "the bottom of the pile",
                    "the top of the pile"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "the short threads, pieces of wool, etc. that form the soft surface of carpets and some types of cloth such as velvet",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a deep-pile carpet"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Corduroy is the poor man’s velvet; its pile is made of cotton rather than silk or satin."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "a large wooden, metal or stone post that is fixed into the ground and used to support a building, bridge, etc.",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "a large impressive building",
            "labels": "(formal or humorous)",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a Victorian pile built as a private hospital"
                },
                {
                    "text": "her family's ancestral pile"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Houses and homes"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "in the least/most important position in a group of people or things",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "It’s been 20 years since a British player was top of the pile."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The government is doing little to help those at the bottom of the social pile."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to make a lot of money",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The family made its pile from oil."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I bet they made an absolute pile out of the deal."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/paɪl/",
                "audio": "pi/pile/pile__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/paɪl/",
                "audio": "pi/pile/pile__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "noun senses 1 to 3, noun sense 6 late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin pila ‘pillar, pier’. noun sense 5 Old English pīl ‘dart, arrow’, also ‘pointed stake’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch pijl and German Pfeil, from Latin pilum ‘(heavy) javelin’. noun sense 4 Middle English (in the sense ‘downy feather’): from Latin pilus ‘hair’. The current sense dates from the mid 16th cent."
}