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/

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, →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, page 6:

     Mrs. Brown cleaned her lawn up bright and early each day;
     Picked up all the dog piles so her children could play.

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, 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, →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.

2. (figurative, US, colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To pile on, to overwhelm in other senses.
   • 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)

References

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