pig pile

UK/ˈpɪɡpʌɪl/US/ˈpɪɡˌpaɪl/

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

Verb

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.
- 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
(US, ambitransitive, colloquial) To 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
(US, ambitransitive, colloquial, figuratively) To 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
- 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

pig pile (plural pig piles)

(US, colloquial) A 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

Verb
third-person singular present	pig piles
present participle	pig piling
past participle	pig piled
past	pig piled
alternative form	pig-pile
alternative form	pigpile
Noun
plural	pig piles

Originally as a verb, by analogy with the disorderly huddling behavior of pigs.

What does pig pile mean?: Pig pile means to cause a group of people to lie in a pile upon another, originally as a punishment to the victim on the bottom.
What part of speech is pig pile?: Pig pile can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce pig pile?: Pig pile is pronounced /ˈpɪɡpʌɪl/ (UK).
What is the past tense of pig pile?: The past tense of pig pile is pig piled.

Adapted from Wiktionary: pig pile (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “pig pile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pig_pile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.