'Pile engine' definitions:

Definition of 'Pile engine'

From: GCIDE
  • Pile \Pile\, n. [AS. p[imac]l arrow, stake, L. pilum javelin; but cf. also L. pila pillar.]
  • 1. A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Tubular iron piles are now much used. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. [Cf. F. pile.] (Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. [1913 Webster]
  • Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles.
  • Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles.
  • Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile.
  • Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake.
  • Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling.
  • Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic.
  • Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure. [1913 Webster]