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Glite Dictionary
voltaic pile

voltaic pile

9.9
A simple early battery made from stacked metal discs like zinc and copper
  • noun
  • /voʊlˈteɪɪk paɪl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : pila voltaica
  • This is that very voltaic pile that Faraday received from Volta.

Examples

  • The laboratory has a display of early scientific instruments, including a voltaic pile made by Volta himself.

  • It had over 800 individual voltaic piles attached together.

    The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

  • Using a voltaic pile, he began to apply an electric current to the dead man's body.

    The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

  • If we were to take a voltaic pile and discharge it in order to power Dan's Frankenstein eyes, then it works.

  • Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile as the first true electric battery.

  • Scientists study how the voltaic pile works to better understand electric energy.

Synonyms

pile
vsvoltaic pile
  • Archaic
1 8.7

An early electric battery made from stacked metal discs

is the specific historical technical term rather than the general short name
galvanic pile
vsvoltaic pile
  • Archaic
9.9

An early battery made of stacked metal plates with wet material between them

is the same concept but uses a different historical technical name
voltaic battery
vsvoltaic pile
  • Specialized
6.3

A group of cells that make electricity by chemical reactions

is narrower, meaning the early stacked series form invented by Volta

Surface Forms

voltaic pile singular
voltaic piles plural

Morphology

voltaic + pile

The meaning 'an early battery made from stacked voltaic cells' is directly inferable from combining 'voltaic' (producing electric current) with 'pile' (a stack or heap). This adjective+noun composition maps transparently onto a physical stack of voltaic elements, a pattern common across languages, so a learner who knows both constituents can derive the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Voltaic pile comes from inventor Alessandro Volta and the simple device he built: a pile of metal discs separated by cloth soaked in salt water that produced a steady flow of electricity. That's why the name now means 'an early battery'.