word-vault

{ "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." }