pile

make a bundle and make a pile

to make a lot of money. John really made a bundle on that deal. I'd like to make a pile and retire.

See also: bundle, make

pile someone or something on(to) someone or something and pile someone or something on

to heap people or things onto someone or something. The wrestler piled the referee onto his unconscious opponent. We piled the kids on the heap of leaves we had raked up. Pile on the chili! What's a hot dog without chili?

pile someone into something and pile someone in

to bunch people into something in a disorderly fashion. She piled the kids into the van and headed off for school. She piled in the kids and closed the doors. Pile them in and let's go. They piled themselves into the car and sped off.

pile something up 

1. to crash or wreck something. Drive carefully if you don't want to pile the car up. The driver piled up the car against a tree.

2. to make something into a heap. Carl piled all the leaves up and set them afire. Please pile up the leaves.

See also: up

pile in(to something)

to climb in or get in roughly. Okay, kids, pile in! The children piled into the car and slammed the door.

pile off (something)

to get down off something; to clamber down off something. All the kids piled off the wagon and ran into the barn. She stopped the wagon, and they piled off.

pile on(to) (someone or something)

to make a heap of people on someone or something. The football players piled onto the poor guy holding the ball. They ran up to the ball carrier and piled on.

pile out (of something)

[for many people] to get out of something roughly. Okay, kids, pile out! The car door burst open, and the children piled out.

See also: out

pile the work on (someone)

Fig. to give someone a lot of work to do. The boss really piled the work on me this week. The boss piled on the work this week.

See also: work

pile up 

1. Lit. [for things] to gather or accumulate. The newspapers began to pile up after a few days. Work is really piling up around here.

2. Fig. [for a number of vehicles] to crash together. Nearly twenty cars piled up on the bridge this morning.

See also: up

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at the bottom of the heap/pile

in a worse situation than anyone else in a group of people Those at the bottom of the heap feel that society has failed them. The homeless are at the bottom of the pile with little hope of improving their situation.

See also: bottom, heap

pile it/them high and sell it/them cheap  (mainly British)

to sell large amounts of something at cheap prices The shops at the lower end of the clothing market have survived by piling it high and selling it cheap.

See also: and, cheap, high, sell

pile on the agony  (British & Australian informal)

to try to get sympathy from other people by making your problems seem worse than they really are (usually in continuous tenses) He was really piling on the agony, saying he was heart-broken and hadn't got anything left to live for.

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pile up something also pile something up

to increase something Many civilians were killed - the evidence continues to pile up. The company piled up hundreds of millions of dollars of losses over the last year.

Usage notes: usually used in passive forms: Earnings began piling up from the sale of the new switches.

See also: up

the bottom of the heap also the bottom of the pile

the lowest rank within a group Being near the bottom of the heap, the company has nowhere to go but up. Those at the bottom of the heap feel that no one cares about them.

Opposite of: the top of the heap

See also: bottom, heap