pig pile
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Originally as a verb, by analogy with the disorderly huddling behavior of pigs.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
pig pile (third-person singular simple present pig piles, present participle pig piling, simple past and past participle pig piled)
- (US colloquial, transitive) To cause a group of people to lie in a pile upon another, originally as a punishment to the victim on the bottom.
- 1873 June, Ballou's Monthly Magazine, page 595:
- She made the worst speller lie down on the floor, the next worst on top of him, and so pig-piled the whole class, dressing off the upper one with a shingle.
- (US colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To jump into such a pile.
- 1989 June 23, The Seattle Times, page 8:
- They pig-piled at the very end, and we threw ice cubes on them.
- (figurative, US colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To act similarly with regard to residential density: to live or cause to live in high-density settlements.
- 1957 December 11, The Chronicle[1], Telegram, archived from the original on 24 July 2018, page 32:
- We're pig-piling in hot spots. If the entire population were to be given an acre of ground... they wouldn't occupy the state of Texas.
- 1969 August 21, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Field Hearings on H.R. 10482 before the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation, p. 70:
- We feel that this is... an area that can give enjoyment to thousands of people without pig-piling them and without causing major ecological disturbances.
Synonyms[edit]
- See dogpile
Noun[edit]
- (US, colloquial) A disorderly pile of people formed by jumping upon a victim.
- 1880 August, Arthur's Home Magazine, page 462:
- Rolling in a mud-puddle, heels up in the air, amid a mound of humanity, very pertinently called a 'pig-pile'.
Synonyms[edit]
- See dogpile
References[edit]
- “pig-pile, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2006. - “pig-pile, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2006.
