Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PILE, n.¹ [Sp. and It. pila; Port. pilha; Fr. pile; from L. pila; Gr. λιθος. The bolei mentioned by Pausanias, were heaps of stones.]

1. A heap; a mass or collection of things in a roundish or elevated form; as, a pile of stones; a pile of bricks; a pile of wood or timber; a pile of ruins.
2. A collection of combustibles for burning a dead body; as, a funeral pile.
3. A large building or mass of buildings; an edifice. The pile o'erlook'd the town and drew the sight. – Dryden.
4. A heap of balls or shot laid in horizontal courses, rising into a pyramidical form.