pillar

See also: Pillar

English

Beinecke library pillar

Pelham's pillar

Roman pillar ruin

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪlɚ/
• 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.

   • 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.
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.

Synonyms

• column, sile

Derived terms

• A-pillar, B-pillar, C-pillar, D-pillar
• earth pillar
• from pillar to post
• pillar box
• pillar harp
• pillar of the community
• sun pillar

 

Translations

large post, often used as supporting architecture

• Ainu: イクㇲペ (ikuspe)
• Albanian: shtyllë (sq) f
• Arabic: عمود

  Egyptian Arabic: عمود m (ʕamūd)

• Armenian: սյուն (hy) (syun), կոթող (hy) (kotʻoġ), հենարան (hy) (henaran), նեցուկ (hy) (necʻuk), պատվար (hy) (patvar), հենասյուն (hy) (henasyun)

  Old Armenian: սիւն (siwn)

• Aromanian: stur, stil, durec
• Assamese: খুঁটা (khũta), থাম (tham)
• Asturian: pilar m
• Azerbaijani: dirək (az), sütun (az)
• Bashkir: бағана (bağana), баған (bağan) (Eastern Bashkir); колонна (kolonna)
• Berber:

  Tashelhit: anbdad m

• Bikol Central: harigi (bcl)
• Breton: post (br) m, peul (br) m
• Bulgarian: стълб (bg) m (stǎlb), колона (bg) f (kolona)
• Catalan: pilar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 柱子 (zh) (zhùzi)

• Czech: pilíř (cs) m
• Dalmatian: chilauna f
• Danish: søjle (da) c
• Dutch: pijler (nl), zuil (nl), pilaar (nl)
• Egyptian: (jwn m), (wḫꜣ m), (ꜥꜣ m)
• Esperanto: piliero
• Etruscan: 𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌀 class inanimate (fala)
• Finnish: pylväs (fi), pilari (fi)
• French: pilier (fr) m, pile (fr) f
• Galician: piar (gl) m
• Georgian: სვეტი (sveṭi), დედაბოძი (dedaboʒi), საყრდენი (saq̇rdeni)
• German: Pfeiler (de) m, Säule (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 f (sauls)
• Greek: στυλοβάτης (el) m (stylovátis), κολώνα (el) f (kolóna), στύλος (el) m (stýlos)

  Ancient: στῦλος m (stûlos), κίων m or f (kíōn)

• Hawaiian: kia
• Hebrew: עמוד (he) m ('amúd)
• Hindi: स्तंभ (hi) (stambh), खंभा (hi) (khambhā)
• Hungarian: oszlop (hu)
• Indonesian: pilar (id), tiang (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: piléar m
• Italian: pilastro (it) m
• Japanese: 柱 (ja) (はしら, hashira)
• Kazakh: діңгек (dıñgek)
• Khmer: សសរ (km) (sɑsɑɑ)
• Korean: 기둥 (ko) (gidung)
• Latin: columna f
• Lithuanian: piliorius (lt) m
• Macedonian: сто́лб m (stólb), ди́рек m (dírek)
• Malay: tiang (ms)
• Malayalam: തൂണ് (ml) (tūṇŭ), സ്തംഭം (ml) (stambhaṁ)
• Manchu: ᡨᡠᡵᠠ (tura)
• Maori: pou, himu
• Mongolian: багана (mn) (bagana)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: søyle (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: søyle f

• Nupe: ekpó
• Occitan: pilar (oc) m
• Persian: ستون (fa) (sotun)
• Polish: filar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pilar (pt) m
• Romanian: stâlp (ro) m
• Russian: столб (ru) m (stolb), коло́нна (ru) f (kolónna)
• Sanskrit: स्तम्भ (sa) (stambha), स्थूणा (sa) (sthūṇā)
• Scottish Gaelic: colbh m, (rock) carragh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стуб m, ступ m, стубац m, ступац m

  Roman: stub (sh) m, stup (sh) m, stubac (sh) m, stupac (sh) m

• Slovak: pilier m
• Slovene: steber (sl) m, slop (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: słup m

• Spanish: pilar (es) m
• Swahili: majabali (sw)
• Swedish: pelare (sv) c, stöttepelare (sv) c, kolonn (sv) c
• Tagalog: haligi
• Tahitian: arati’a
• Telugu: స్తంభము (te) (stambhamu), స్థూణ (te) (sthūṇa), కంబము (te) (kambamu)
• Thai: เสา (th) (sǎo)
• Turkish: sütun (tr)
• Vietnamese: cột (vi)
• Yoruba: òpó, òpómúléró
• Yucatec Maya: nahil koh

essential part of something

• Armenian: հենասյուն (hy) (henasyun)
• Bulgarian: стълб (bg) m (stǎlb)
• Persian: رکن (fa) (rokn)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: filar (pl) m, podstawa (pl) f
• Russian: опло́т (ru) m (oplót), опо́ра (ru) f (opóra)
• Turkish: direk (tr)
• Yoruba: òpó, òpómúléró

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

   • 2004, Scott M. Auerbach with Kathleen A. Carrado, 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

• “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

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Catalan

Etymology

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) [piˈʎa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [piˈʎaɾ]
• 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) to snatch, grab

   Synonyms: agafar, prendre

Derived terms

• pillada
• pillatge

Related terms

• pillard

Further reading

• “pillar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Portuguese

Noun

pillar m (plural pillares)

1. Obsolete spelling of pilar.

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Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /piˈʝaɾ/ [piˈʝaɾ]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /piˈʝaɾ/ [piˈʝaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Philippines) /piˈʎaɾ/ [piˈʎaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /piˈʃaɾ/ [piˈʃaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /piˈʒaɾ/ [piˈʒaɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

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

    Conjugation of pillar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			pillar
gerund			pillando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		pillado		pillada
		plural		pillados		pilladas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	pillo	pillastú pillásvos	pilla	pillamos	pilláis	pillan
	imperfect	pillaba	pillabas	pillaba	pillábamos	pillabais	pillaban
	preterite	pillé	pillaste	pilló	pillamos	pillasteis	pillaron
	future	pillaré	pillarás	pillará	pillaremos	pillaréis	pillarán
	conditional	pillaría	pillarías	pillaría	pillaríamos	pillaríais	pillarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	pille	pillestú pillésvos2	pille	pillemos	pilléis	pillen
	imperfect (ra)	pillara	pillaras	pillara	pilláramos	pillarais	pillaran
	imperfect (se)	pillase	pillases	pillase	pillásemos	pillaseis	pillasen
	future1	pillare	pillares	pillare	pilláremos	pillareis	pillaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		pillatú pillávos	pille	pillemos	pillad	pillen
	negative		no pilles	no pille	no pillemos	no pilléis	no pillen

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

Derived terms

• aquí te pillo, aquí te mato
• jugar a pillar (“to play tag”) (Spain)
• pilla pilla
• pillar cacho
• pillar el toro
• pillar una cogorza
• pillarse los dedos
• pillarse un pedo

 

Related terms

• pillo
• pillería
• pilla pilla

See also

• agarrar
• asir

Further reading

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

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Swedish

Verb

pillar

1. (deprecated template usage) present tense of pilla.

Anagrams

• prilla