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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PILE, n.¹, v.¹ Also pil (Jak.), pyll, pyl(e). [pəil]

I. n. 1. A single small blade of grass (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis; n. and s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928)); a blade or stalk of hay or the like (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.), a spine, thorn. Cf. Peel, n.²Sc. 1705 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) I. 75:
She told me that on every gouan and every pile of grass she sau God's finger, and was ravished with the sight!Sc. 1707–8 Hist. MSS. Comm. Report (Mar and Kellie MSS.) 431:
If the enimie come near you, I'm more affraid that my hay occasion their coming to Alloa than anything, so I wish I had not a pyll.Sc. 1774 Survey Assynt (S.H.S.) 46:
There is not so much as a Pile of Grass, or Heather among the Stones.Bnff. 1793 Trans. Bnff. Field Club (1930) 54:
None could see the next town [for snow], nor was a pile of grass seen until after 12 o'clock.Uls. 1804 J. Orr Poems (1936) 163:
The silly sweel't sheep, ay the stifflin' storm breastin' Are glad o' green piles at the side o' the spring.Slk. 1815 Hogg Poems (1865) 127:
She felt like heaving thistle-down, Hung to the earth by viewless pile.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 92:
The beastie crap awa' amo' the grass, an' was pluckin' a pile here an' there.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 265:
As lang's there was a pile o' grass on the muir.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-Hags xxi.:
Every pile of the grass that springs so sweetly in the meadows.Sh. 1898 “Junda” Klingrahool 6:
No a pile o girse, or a bled o green, An hit got no da göd a da warm sunsheen.

2. A grain of corn, barley, hail; a leaf of tea, etc.; a husk; a pellet of shot (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; Dmb., Kcb. 1965). In 1893 quot. used of tiny chips of stone. Also fig.Ayr. 1787 Burns Address to Unco Guid Intro.:
The cleanest corn that e'er was dight May hae some pyles o' caff in.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xxiii.:
The kail's sae thin that every pile o' barley runs roun' the dish.Lnk. a.1854 W. Watson Poems (1877) 187:
The hailstane pile.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 167:
Sin' I sprang frae my douce forbears, Life's prickly piles tae hool.Lnk. 1888 R. Bennett Poems 7:
I've heard o' folk, without ae pile o' tea, Or grain o' bread, hing the kettle on the swee.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Raiders vi.:
The fine, white granite piles on Loch Enoch shore.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip. 394:
A dizzen leed pyles'll ser' ye better.Ayr. 1912 G. Cunningham Verse 61:
Alack! nae mair she[hen]'ll greet the morn . . . Nor claw the yirth for piles o' corn.Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 34:
“Is your corn a' in?” “Every pile o't.”

II. v. As in Eng., to drive in piles or stakes. Vbl.n. piling, a paling, fence (sm. and s.Sc. 1965), comb. pilin lett, a slat of wood in a fence (Ib.); specif. to drive long stakes downwards from the surface of the ground into mineral workings in order to delimit the boundaries of property beyond which workings were not to be driven.m.Lth. 1766 Session Papers, Petition J. Clark (21 July 1768) 24:
[They] pyled from the bottom thereof [of the pit] to the undermost level, and then took the bearing thereof in two or three different places. The defender showed them a pyling that had been made by him.m.Lth. 1768 Session Papers, Petition J. Clark (21 July) 21:
When they were about to pyle the cross-mine, in order to see if the defender encroached upon the pursuer's rigg: That John Fowler, who was employed to pyle, said to the pursuer and defender, Cannot you two folks agree together, and save us the trouble?Gall. 1810 S. Smith Agric. Gall. 41:
They manured the field intended to be broken up by penning the cattle upon it . . . with wooden pilings, which they shifted at pleasure.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 297:
He had putten a pilin an a yett across the road tae the shore.