pig pile

present singular third person pig piles · participle present pig piling · participle past pig piled · past pig piled · alternative pig-pile · alternative pigpile

1. UScolloquialtransitiveTo cause a group of people to lie in a pile upon another, originally as a punishment to the victim on the bottom.

   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.

   1873 June, Ballou's Monthly Magazine, page 595

2. USambitransitivecolloquialTo jump into such a pile.

   They pig-piled at the very end, and we threw ice cubes on them.

   1989 June 23, The Seattle Times, page 8

   Synonyms: dogpile

3. USambitransitivecolloquialfigurativelyTo act similarly with regard to residential density: to live or cause to live in high-density settlements.

   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.

   1957 December 11, The Chronicle, Telegram, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2018, page 32

   1 more example

   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.

   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

plural pig piles · alternative pig-pile · alternative pigpile

1. UScolloquialA disorderly pile of people formed by jumping upon a victim.

   Rolling in a mud-puddle, heels up in the air, amid a mound of humanity, very pertinently called a 'pig-pile'.

   1880 August, Arthur's Home Magazine, page 462