# 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: /ˈdɒɡ pʌɪl/
* (US) IPA: /ˈdɔɡ ˌpaɪl/, /ˈdɑɡ ˌpaɪl/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

dogpile (plural dogpiles)
* (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.
* (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, →ISBN, page 348:Unscrambling the dogpile of objects can be messy.
* (US colloquial, euphemistic) A pile of dogshit.
** 1950 March 6, The Tri-City Herald‎, page 6:Mrs. Brown cleaned her lawn up bright and early each day; Picked up all the dog piles so her children could play.
* (Internet slang) The situation where many participants attack the same user (on a discussion forum or similar).
* (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)
* (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, →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, →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.
* (figurative, US, colloquial, ambitransitive) To pile on, to overwhelm in other senses.
* (Internet slang) For many participants to attack the same user (on a discussion forum or similar).
** 2005, Craig Spector, Underground‎, →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.