Dungpile

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A heap or mound of animal manure, often collected in a farmyard or stable area for later spreading on fields
2. A pile of accumulated animal droppings, typically gathered outdoors on a farm to rot before use as fertilizer
3. A stack of waste matter from livestock, left to decompose and used to enrich soil in agriculture

Etymology: "Dung" is one of the oldest words in the compound. It comes from Old English "dung," which has Germanic cognates in several related languages and goes back to a Proto-Germanic root. Its sense of animal excrement and manure has stayed stable for more than a thousand years, so the first half of the compound has changed little. "Pile" is the younger part. In the sense of a heap or stack, it entered English in the late Middle Ages, likely through Old French, from Latin "pila," meaning a pillar or pier. The pillar and heap senses are connected through the idea of something built up in a stack. The compound "dungpile" is a plain combination of the two, meaning a heap of dung, and it has no separate history beyond the parts.

Synonyms: dunghill, muckheap, midden