dogpile

English

Alternative forms

• dog pile, dog-pile

Etymology

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

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

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.

4. (Internet slang) The situation where many participants attack the same user (on a discussion forum or similar).
5. (computing) A cache stampede.

Synonyms

• (a pile of people): pig pile (upon a single victim, colloq.); scrum, ruck (esp. rugby); stacks on the mill, stacks on (esp. Australian football); pile-up (esp. US football)
• (a pile of dogshit): See dogshit

See also

• more sacks to the mill, stack-upon-the-kill

Verb

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

1. (US colloquial, ambitransitive, 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, ambitransitive) To pile on, to overwhelm in other senses.
3. (Internet slang) For many participants to attack the same user (on a discussion forum or similar).
   • 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.

Synonyms

• (to form a dogpile): pile up; pig pile (colloq.); bundle (slang)

Derived terms

• dogpiler

References

• “dog pile, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2006.
• “dog-pile, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2006.