pillar

English

Etymology

From Middle English piler, from Old French pilier, from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin *pilāre (“a pillar”), from Latin pila (“a pillar, pier, mole”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪlɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪlə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pil‧lar

Noun

pillar (plural pillars)

1. (architecture) A large post, often used as supporting architecture.
2. Something resembling such a structure.

   a pillar of smoke

3. (figuratively) An essential part of something that provides support.

   He's a pillar of the community.

   • 1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment‎, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 181:

     In the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, we recognized the fact that both Beijing and Taipei viewed Taiwan as part of China but unequivocally expressed our support for a peaceful settlement of the unification issue. While we should not alter the fundamental pillars of our policy, we should consider certain steps that will raise Taiwan's international standing.

   • 2016, Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea, spoken by CJ (Christian Mallen):

     Star Trek is one of the pillars of modern entertainment.

4. (Roman Catholicism) A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church.
   • a. 1529, John Skelton, a poem:

     two laye-men secular
     eache of theym holdynge a pillar
     In their hondes, steade of a mace

5. The centre of the volta, ring, or manege ground, around which a horse turns.
6. (bodybuilding) The body from the hips over the core to the shoulders.
7. (geology) A vertical, often spire-shaped, natural rock formation.

Synonyms

• column, sile

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pillar (third-person singular simple present pillars, present participle pillaring, simple past and past participle pillared)

1. To provide with pillars or added strength as if from pillars.
   • 1910, James Morgan, Blast furnace practice:

     Insufficient penetration, or faulty distribution of the blast, may give rise to "pillaring" — that is, the formation of a pillar or column of cold material extending up through the middle of the hearth

   • 1996, National Academy of Engineering, First annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering, page 25:

     We discovered this new class of compounds in our search for a means of generating porosity by pillaring layered double hydroxides

   • 1998, Zhong Lin Wang with Zhen Chuan Kang, Functional and smart materials, page 226:

     In the pillaring-grafting reaction the dimensionality increases by pillaring the organic or precursory polynuclear metal hydroxyl cations into an inorganic layer structured matrix.

   • 2004, Scott M. Auerbach with Kathleen A. Carrado and Prabir K. Dutta, Handbook of layered materials, page 261:

     It was then that scientists started to create porosity in the interlayer space of layered clays. developing the first pillared clays with pores in the larger microporous region.

See also

• caterpillar

Further reading

English Wikipedia has an article on:

pillar

Wikipedia

• “pillar”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “pillar”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “pillar”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “pillar”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• Aprill

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French piller. The sense of "grab" is from Italian pigliare, either via direct borrowing or through the mediation of Spanish pillar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

pillar (first-person singular present pillo, first-person singular preterite pillí, past participle pillat)

1. (transitive) to pillage, plunder, loot
2. (transitive, colloquial) to snatch, grab

   Synonyms: agafar, prendre

Conjugation

Derived terms

• pillada
• pillatge

Related terms

• pillard

Further reading

• “pillar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pillar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

Portuguese

Noun

pillar m (plural pillares)

1. Obsolete spelling of pilar

Spanish

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian pigliare or French piller. Compare also Portuguese pilhar and English pillage.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pi‧llar

Verb

pillar (first-person singular present pillo, first-person singular preterite pillé, past participle pillado)

1. to catch, get, to grab (e.g. grab a cab, get lunch, grab a drink, catch a movie)
2. to pilfer, steal
3. (games) to tag
4. (colloquial) to get (a joke)
5. (colloquial) to catch, to catch up to
6. (colloquial) to catch, to pick up, to bust, to nab (someone doing something illegal)

   Synonyms: atrapar, sorprender

7. (colloquial) to come down with, catch, to pick up (an illness)
8. (colloquial) to pick up on, to take (e.g. information, a hint)
9. (Spain, colloquial) to score (e.g. drugs)
10. (colloquial, reflexive) to jam (your finger)

    Me pillé el dedo con la puerta.

    I jammed my finger in the door.

11. (colloquial, reflexive) to fall in love, to crush on someone

    Creo que se ha pillado de mí.

    I think she may have a crush on me.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• agarrar
• asir

Further reading

• “pillar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Verb

pillar

1. present indicative of pilla

Anagrams

• prilla