dogpile

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From dog +‎ pile. In reference to piles of people, originally as a noun after earlier pig pile. In reference to dog excrement, a clipping of pile of shit.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɒɡ pʌɪl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɡ ˌpaɪl/, /ˈdɑɡ ˌpaɪl/

Noun[edit]

dogpile (plural dogpiles)

  1. (US colloquial) A disorderly pile of people formed by jumping upon a victim.
    • 1948 November 21, Los Angeles Times, Sect. i, p. 20:
      The bottom man of a 'dog pile' in a fraternity house scuffle is in a hospital with a neck dislocation.
  2. (figurative, US colloquial) Any similarly disorderly pile of people or things.
    • 1921 November 19, The Nebraska State Journal, page 3:
      Purdy tucked the pigskin under his elbow and cantered over a dog-pile for a tally.
    • 1993, Christopher G. Jones, “Object-Oriented Analysis with CASE”, in Computer-aided Software Engineering[1], →ISBN, page 348:
      Unscrambling the dogpile of objects can be messy.
  3. (US colloquial, euphemistic) A pile of dogshit.
    • 1950 March 6, The Tri-City Herald[2], page 6:
      Mrs. Brown cleaned her lawn up bright and early each day;
      Picked up all the dog piles so her children could play.

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Verb[edit]

dogpile (third-person singular simple present dogpiles, present participle dogpiling, simple past and past participle dogpiled)

  1. (US colloquial, transitive, intransitive, often with 'on') To jump into a dogpile.
    • c. 1947, Tamotsu Shibutani, The Derelicts of Company K, page 273:
      He can either take a beating from one man or... be dogpiled by a dozen men.
    • 1989 September 7, The Los Angeles Times, Sect. ix, p. 16:
      I fumbled the snap, fell on the ball and about 10 guys dog-piled on top of me.
    • 2003, Nancy Holder, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen[3], →ISBN, page 657:
      A vampire got her around the neck from behind; then more, dogpiling her.
    • 2023 May 3, A. O. Scott, “Tucker Carlson’s Code of Whiteness”, in The New York Times[4], →ISSN:
      That story — about Carlson’s conflicted response to the sight of “a group of Trump guys” dogpiling an “Antifa kid” — appears to involve a crisis of conscience, an unexpected, chastening eruption of empathy.
  2. (figurative, US, colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To pile on, to overwhelm in other senses.
    • 2005, Craig Spector, Underground[5], →ISBN, page 169:
      But this guy was serious, using online payment services and dogpiling her e-mail box within minutes, requesting expedited shipping.

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