English

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Etymology

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The noun is derived from stock (supply of anything ready for use) +‎ pile (mass of things heaped together).[1]

The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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stockpile (plural stockpiles) (originally US, also figuratively)

  1. A supply (especially a large one) of something kept for future use, specifically in case the cost of the item increases or if there a shortage.
    • 2017 August 25, Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat, “Thailand’s ousted PM Yingluck has fled abroad: sources”, in Reuters[1], archived from the original on 9 January 2022:
      Under the rice subsidy program, Yingluck [Shinawatra]'s administration paid farmers up to 50 percent more than market prices for their rice. The policy was popular with farmers but left Thailand with huge rice stockpiles and caused $8 billion in losses.
    1. (specifically, military, weaponry) A supply of nuclear weapons kept by a country; a nuclear stockpile.
  2. (mining) A pile of coal or ore heaped up on the ground after it has been mined.
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  • nuclear pile (semantically quite different from a nuclear stockpile)

Translations

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Verb

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stockpile (third-person singular simple present stockpiles, present participle stockpiling, simple past and past participle stockpiled) (originally US, also figuratively)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To accumulate or build up a supply of (something).
      1. (specifically, military, weaponry) To build up a stock of (nuclear weapons).
    2. (mining) To heap up piles of (coal or ore) on the ground after it has been mined.
  2. (intransitive) To build up a supply; to accumulate.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ stockpile, n.”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; stockpile, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ stockpile, v.”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2019; stockpile, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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