Skip to main content
piling

piling

13 7.1
A heavy post made of wood, steel or concrete driven deep into the ground to support a bridge
  • noun
  • /ˈpaɪlɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : pilote
  • The building was old, mounted on thick pilings that went down into the bay.

Examples

  • One of the big boys said there were little oysters that grew in the pilings.

  • The boat careens off a piling and roars straight for the shipyard.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Go on, look over there behind those pilings.

  • Check the pilings under the pier.

  • I don't want our boards hitting a piling.

  • Beneath her foundation, a million pilings held her fast and afloat.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Benj stood as solid as the wooden pilings on which the wharf was built.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I could hear the water slapping hollowly against the pilings below and smiled slightly.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Tiers of mussels ringed the pilings of abandoned wharves in the lowering tide.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The old bridge was supported by wooden pilings that had been in place for decades.

Synonyms

pile
vspiling
  • Specialized
14 6.8

A long column driven into the ground to hold up a building

is a heavier, robust post used for major structures like bridges
sheet piling
vspiling
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A row of metal boards pushed into the ground to hold back soil or water

is a heavy lone post used for deep support rather than a retaining wall
spile
vspiling
  • Specialized
9.9

A long post people drive into the ground to support a building or wall

is mainly a heavy post for supporting built structures rather than retaining soil

Compounds

sheet piling
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A row of metal boards pushed into the ground to hold back soil or water

piling hammer
  • Specialized
7.0

A heavy machine that drives long posts or beams into the ground

How Heavy

caisson
  • Specialized
1 9.6
piling
  • Specialized
13 7.1
post
99 1.0
stake
167 4.8

Surface Forms

piling singular
pilings plural

Morphology

piling = pile (semi-transparent) = pile + ing

The word is transparently built from pile + -ing, but the resulting construction term is a specialized collective or material noun rather than an obvious everyday meaning.

Etymology

Piling comes from the word pile, which long ago meant a heavy post or 'pillar', the same idea you see in the English word pillar. So a piling is a long post driven deep into the ground to support a building.