What does pile in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word pile in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use pile in French.

The word pile in French means battery, pile, stack, tails, on the dot, column, stack, pounding, grind, crush, slam on the brakes, pull up short, trample, tails, hidden face, be a real dynamo, play heads or tails, flip a coin for , toss a coin for, fuel cell, button cell, battery, human dynamo, dynamo, long-life battery, Heads or tails?, dry battery, dry-cell battery, exactly, right, stop dead, flip a coin, toss a coin, crushed glass. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word pile

battery

nom féminin (générateur d'électricité)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Cette lampe fonctionne avec deux piles.
This lamp takes two batteries.

pile, stack

nom féminin (amas d'objets)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il y a une pile de livres sur la table.
There's a pile of books on the table.

tails

nom féminin (côté d'une pièce de monnaie) (coin)

(plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors.")
Nous allons tirer à pile ou face.
We'll flip for it; heads or tails.

on the dot

adverbe (exactement) (time)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")
Il est 15 h pile. // La visite a commencé pile à l'heure. // J'habite pile en face de l'église.
I live directly opposite the church.

column

nom féminin (gros pilier)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Ce pont comprend 12 piles.
This bridge has twelve columns.

stack

nom féminin (Informatique : zone tampon) (Computing)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il existe des piles LIFO et des piles FIFO.
There are LIFO stacks and FIFO stacks.

pounding

nom féminin (argot (lourde défaite) (defeat: informal, figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Notre équipe s'est pris une pile face à celle de Perpignan.
Our team took a pounding against Perpignan.

grind, crush

verbe transitif (réduire en poudre, en pâte)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Je pile des épices pour la cuisine.

slam on the brakes, pull up short

verbe intransitif (figuré (s’arrêter brusquement) (colloquial)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Il pila au feu rouge.

trample

verbe intransitif (Canada (marcher sur)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Attention ! Ne pilez pas dans les orties.

tails

nom masculin (envers) (coin)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les pièces d'euro possèdent un dessin commun côté pile et un dessin spécifique à chaque pays côté face.

hidden face

nom masculin (envers du décor)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les répétitions font partie du côté pile du métier d'artiste.

be a real dynamo

locution verbale (figuré (être très actif)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Ce gamin, c'est une vraie pile électrique : dès le matin, il n'arrête pas de bouger !

play heads or tails

locution verbale (s'en remettre au hasard)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Ils ont joué à pile ou face pour désigner un volontaire.

flip a coin for , toss a coin for

locution verbale (mettre en jeu)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Cet idiot a joué sa console à pile ou face et a perdu !

fuel cell

nom féminin (moteur à hydrogène) (physics)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La pile à combustible est une pile pour la fabrication de l'électricité.

button cell

nom féminin (pile ronde et plate)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

battery

nom féminin (batterie, accumulateur)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les liseuses de nuit fonctionnent sur pile électrique.

human dynamo, dynamo

nom féminin (figuré, familier (personne très active) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Ce gamin est une vrai pile électrique ! Il ne tient pas en place !

long-life battery

nom féminin (pile qui dure longtemps)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Pour un jouet électrique, mieux vaut des piles longues durée.

Heads or tails?

interjection (Quel face choisis-tu ?)

(interjection: Exclamation--for example, "Oh no!" "Wow!")
Bon, on va tirer au sort pour savoir qui commence. Pile ou face ?

dry battery, dry-cell battery

nom féminin (pile zinc-manganèse)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

exactly, right

adverbe (familier (exactement, parfaitement)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")
Elle est pile-poil à l'heure. C'est pile-poil ce que je cherchais !
She was dead on time.

stop dead

locution verbale (s'arrêter exactement)

Ouf ! Il s'est arrêté pile devant le mur.

flip a coin, toss a coin

locution verbale (tirer au sort)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
On a tiré à pile ou face pour savoir qui commencerait.

crushed glass

nom masculin (verre broyé et poli)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

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So now that you know more about the meaning of pile in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

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