Pig-sticking noun Boar hunting; -- so called by Anglo-Indians. [ Colloq.] Tackeray.

Pignorative adjective [ Confer French pignoratif .] Pledging, pawning. [ R.]

Pignus noun ; plural Pignora . [ Latin ] (Rom. Law) A pledge or pawn.

Pignut noun (Botany) (a) See Groundnut (d) . (b) The bitter- flavored nut of a species of hickory ( Carya glabra, or porcina ); also, the tree itself.

Pigpen noun A pen, or sty, for pigs.

Pigskin noun The skin of a pig, -- used chiefly for making saddles; hence, a colloquial or slang term for a saddle.

Pigskin noun A football; -- so called because the covering is often made of pigskin. [ Colloq.]

Pigsney noun [ Perh. a dim. of Danish pige a girl, or Swedish piga ; or from English pig's eye .] A word of endearment for a girl or woman. [ Obsolete] [ Written also pigsnie , pigsny , etc.] Chaucer.

Pigsty noun ; plural Pigsties A pigpen.

Pigtail noun
1. The tail of a pig.

2. (Hair Dressing) A cue, or queue. J. & H. Smith.

3. A kind of twisted chewing tobacco.

The tobacco he usually cheweth, called pigtail .

Swift.

Pigtailed adjective Having a tail like a pig's; as, the pigtailed baboon.

Pigweed noun (Botany) A name of several annual weeds. See Goosefoot , and Lamb's- quarters .

Pigwidgeon noun [ Written also pigwidgin and pigwiggen .] A cant word for anything petty or small. It is used by Drayton as the name of a fairy.

Pika noun (Zoology) Any one of several species of rodents of the genus Lagomys , resembling small tailless rabbits. They inhabit the high mountains of Asia and America. Called also calling hare , and crying hare . See Chief hare .

Pike noun [ French pique ; perhaps of Celtic origin; confer W. pig a prick, a point, beak, Arm. pik pick. But confer also Latin picus woodpecker (see Pie magpie), and English spike . Confer Pick , noun & v. , Peak , Pique .]
1. (Mil.) A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet.

2. A pointed head or spike; esp., one in the center of a shield or target. Beau. & Fl.

3. A hayfork. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.] Tusser.

4. A pick. [ Prov. Eng.] Wright. Raymond.

5. A pointed or peaked hill. [ R.]

6. A large haycock. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

7. A turnpike; a toll bar. Dickens.

8. (Zoology) sing. & plural A large fresh-water fish ( Esox lucius ), found in Europe and America, highly valued as a food fish; -- called also pickerel , gedd , luce , and jack .

» Blue pike , grass pike , green pike , wall-eyed pike , and yellow pike , are names, not of true pike, but of the wall-eye. See Wall-eye .

Gar pike . See under Gar . -- Pike perch (Zoology) , any fresh-water fish of the genus Stizostedion (formerly Lucioperca ). See Wall-eye , and Sauger . -- Pike pole , a long pole with a pike in one end, used in directing floating logs. -- Pike whale (Zoology) , a finback whale of the North Atlantic ( Balænoptera rostrata ), having an elongated snout; -- called also piked whale . -- Sand pike (Zoology) , the lizard fish. -- Sea pike (Zoology) , the garfish (a) .

Pike-devant noun [ Pike point (fr. French pique ) + French devant before.] A pointed beard. [ Obsolete]

Piked adjective Furnished with a pike; ending in a point; peaked; pointed. "With their piked targets bearing them down." Milton.

Pikelet, Pikelin noun A light, thin cake or muffin. [ Prov. Eng.] Wright.

Pikeman noun ; plural Pikeman
1. A soldier armed with a pike. Knolles.

2. A miner who works with a pick. Beaconsfield.

3. A keeper of a turnpike gate. T. Hughes.

Pikestaff noun
1. The staff, or shaft, of a pike.

2. A staff with a spike in the lower end, to guard against slipping. Sir W. Scott.

Piketail noun (Zoology) See Pintail , 1.

Pikrolite noun (Min.) See Picrolite .

Pilage noun See Pelage .

Pilaster noun [ French pilastre , Italian pilastro , Late Latin pilastrum , from Latin pila a pillar. See Pillar .] (Architecture) An upright architectural member right-angled in plan, constructionally a pier (See Pier , 1 (b) ), but architecturally corresponding to a column, having capital, shaft, and base to agree with those of the columns of the same order. In most cases the projection from the wall is one third of its width, or less.

Pilastered adjective Furnished with pilasters.

Pilau noun See Pillau .

Pilch noun [ Anglo-Saxon pylce , pylece , Late Latin pellicia . See Pelisse , and Pelt skin.] A gown or case of skin, or one trimmed or lined with fur. [ Obsolete]

Pilchard noun [ Confer Italian pilseir , W. pilcod minnows.] (Zoology) A small European food fish ( Clupea pilchardus ) resembling the herring, but thicker and rounder. It is sometimes taken in great numbers on the coast of England.

Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings.

Shak.

Pilcher noun [ From Pilch .] A scabbard, as of a sword. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Pilcher noun (Zoology) The pilchard.

Pilcrow noun [ A corruption of Paragraph .] (Print.) a paragraph mark, ¶. [ Obsolete] Tusser.

Pile noun [ Latin pilus hair. Confer Peruke .]
1. A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet.

Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile .

Cowper.

2. (Zoology) A covering of hair or fur.

Pile noun [ Latin pilum javelin. See Pile a stake.] The head of an arrow or spear. [ Obsolete] Chapman.

Pile noun [ Anglo-Saxon pīl arrow, stake, Latin pilum javelin; but confer also Latin pila pillar.]
1. A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.

» Tubular iron piles are now much used.

2. [ Confer French pile .] (Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.

Pile bridge , a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles. -- Pile cap , a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles. -- Pile driver , or Pile engine , an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile. -- Pile dwelling . See Lake dwelling , under Lake . -- Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.) , a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling , under Piling . -- Pneumatic pile . See under Pneumatic . -- Screw pile , one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure.

Pile transitive verb To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.

To sheet-pile , to make sheet piling in or around. See Sheet piling , under 2nd Piling .

Pile noun [ French pile , Latin pila a pillar, a pier or mole of stone. Confer Pillar .]
1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood.

2. A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot.

3. A funeral pile; a pyre. Dryden.

4. A large building, or mass of buildings.

The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.

Dryden.

5. (Iron Manuf.) Same as Fagot , noun , 2.

6. (Electricity) A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; -- commonly called Volta's pile , voltaic pile , or galvanic pile .

» The term is sometimes applied to other forms of apparatus designed to produce a current of electricity, or as synonymous with battery ; as, for instance, to an apparatus for generating a current of electricity by the action of heat, usually called a thermopile .

7. [ French pile pile, an engraved die, Latin pila a pillar.] The reverse of a coin. See Reverse .

Cross and pile . See under Cross . -- Dry pile . See under Dry .

Pile transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Piled ; present participle & verbal noun Piling .]
1. To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; -- often with up ; as, to pile up wood. "Hills piled on hills." Dryden. "Life piled on life." Tennyson.

The labor of an age in piled stones.

Milton.

2. To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.

To pile arms or muskets (Mil.) , to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms.

Pileate, Pileated adjective [ Latin pileatus , from pileus a felt cap or hat.]
1. Having the form of a cap for the head.

2. (Zoology) Having a crest covering the pileus, or whole top of the head.

Pileated woodpecker (Zoology) , a large American woodpecker ( Ceophloeus pileatus ). It is black, with a bright red pointed crest. Called also logcock , and woodcock .

Piled adjective [ From 2d Pile .] Having a pile or point; pointed. [ Obsolete] "Magus threw a spear well piled ." Chapman.

Piled adjective [ From 1d Pile .] Having a pile or nap. "Three- piled velvet." Latin Barry (1611).

Piled adjective [ From 6d Pile .] (Iron Manuf.) Formed from a pile or fagot; as, piled iron.

Pileiform adjective [ Pileus + -form .] Having the form of a pileus or cap; pileate.

Pilement noun [ From Pile to lay into a heap.] An accumulation; a heap. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Pilentum noun ; plural Pilenta . [ Latin ] (Rom. Antiq.) An easy chariot or carriage, used by Roman ladies, and in which the vessels, etc., for sacred rites were carried.

Pileorhiza noun ; plural Pilorhizæ . [ New Latin , from Greek ... a cap + ... root.] (Botany) A cap of cells which covers the growing extremity of a root; a rootcap.

Pileous adjective [ See Pilous .] Consisting of, or covered with, hair; hairy; pilose.

Piler noun One who places things in a pile.

Piles noun plural [ Latin pila a ball. Confer Pill a medicine.] (Medicine) The small, troublesome tumors or swellings about the anus and lower part of the rectum which are technically called hemorrhoids . See Hemorrhoids . [ The singular pile is sometimes used.]

Blind piles , hemorrhoids which do not bleed.

Pileus noun ; plural Pilei . [ Latin , a felt cap.]
1. (Rom. Antiq.) A kind of skull cap of felt.

2. (Botany) The expanded upper portion of many of the fungi. See Mushroom .

3. (Zoology) The top of the head of a bird, from the bill to the nape.

Pileworm noun (Zoology) The teredo.