PILE UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pile up mean? 

• PILE UP (verb)
  The verb PILE UP has 3 senses:

1. collect or gather

2. arrange into piles or stacks

3. get or gather together

  Familiarity information: PILE UP used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PILE UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Collect or gather

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

accumulate; amass; conglomerate; cumulate; gather; pile up

Context example:

The work keeps piling up

Hypernyms (to "pile up" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pile up"):

backlog (accumulate and create a backlog)

accrete (grow or become attached by accretion)

drift (be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Arrange into piles or stacks

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

heap up; pile up; stack up

Context example:

She piled up her books in my living room

Hypernyms (to "pile up" is one way to...):

collect; garner; gather; pull together (assemble or get together)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Get or gather together

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

accumulate; amass; collect; compile; hoard; pile up; roll up

Context example:

She rolled up a small fortune

Hypernyms (to "pile up" is one way to...):

hive away; lay in; put in; salt away; stack away; stash away; store (keep or lay aside for future use)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pile up"):

run up (pile up (debts or scores))

corral (collect or gather)

collect; pull in (get or bring together)

come up; scrape; scrape up; scratch (gather (money or other resources) together over time)

chunk; lump (put together indiscriminately)

bale (make into a bale)

catch (take in and retain)

fund (accumulate a fund for the discharge of a recurrent liability)

fund (place or store up in a fund for accumulation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They pile up the money in the closet

 Context examples 

Why, you pile up your hands, choose a number, and draw out in turn, and the person who draws at the number has to answer truly any question put by the rest.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

When they had reached the middle of the forest, the father said: “Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not be cold.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"And perhaps, if you're constantly judging your emotions, the negativity can pile up."

(Embracing Darker Moods Makes You Feel Better, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This cavity is expanding, causing the interstellar material to pile up and create the reddish arc-shaped border.

(Stellar Nursery Blooms into View, ESO)