pedestal

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for pedestal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Pedestal

Etymology

From Middle French piédestal, from Italian piedistallo (pie "foot" di "of" stallo "stand") "footstall".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdɪstəl/

Noun

pedestal (plural pedestals)

1. (architecture) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp.
2. (figuratively) A place of reverence or honor.

   He has put his mother on a pedestal. You can't say a word against her.

3. (rail transport) A casting secured to the frame of a truck of a railcar and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
4. (machining) A pillow block; a low housing.
5. (bridge building) An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it rests on a pier.
6. (steam heating) a pedestal coil, group of connected straight pipes arranged side by side and one above another, used in a radiator.

Derived terms

Terms derived from pedestal

• pedestal coil
• pedestal fan

• place / set / put on a pedestal

Translations

the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like

• Afrikaans: voetstuk, pilaarvoet
• Arabic: عَمُود‎ (ʿamūd), حامِل‎ (ar) (ḥāmil), مِنَصَّة‎ (minaṣṣa)
• Armenian: պատվանդան (hy) (patvandan)
• Basque: idulki
• Belarusian: п'едэста́л m (pʺjedestál)
• Breton: mas (br) m
• Bulgarian: пиедестал (bg) m (piedestal)
• Catalan: pedestal (ca) m, peana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 台座 (zh) (táizuò), 基座 (zh) (jīzuò), 座子 (zh) (zuòzi)

• Czech: podstavec m, piedestal m
• Danish: sokkel c
• Dutch: voetstuk (nl) n, sokkel (nl) m
• Esperanto: piedestalo (eo)
• Finnish: jalusta (fi)
• French: piédestal (fr) m
• Georgian: კვარცხლბეკი (ḳvarcxlbeḳi), საყრდენი (saq̇rdeni), ფუძე (puʒe), საფუძველი (sapuʒveli)
• German: Sockel (de) m, Podest (de) n, Piedestal (de) n, Postament (de) n, Stand (de) m, Basis (de) f, Ständer (de) m, Gestell (de) n, Untergestell n, Bock (de) m, Auflagebock m, Auflager (de) n, Trägergerüst n, Standfuß m, Stützbock m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὑπόβαθρα f (hupóbathra), βάθρον n (báthron)

• Hebrew: כַּן‎ (he) m (kan)
• Hungarian: talapzat (hu)

• Ido: piedestalo (io)
• Irish: seastán m
• Italian: piedistallo (it) m
• Japanese: 台座 (だいざ, daiza)
• Latin: crepīdō f
• Latvian: pjedestāls m
• Lithuanian: pjedestalas m
• Luxembourgish: Sockel m
• Macedonian: пиедестал m (piedestal)
• Manx: laan
• Norwegian: pidestall m
• Occitan: pèdestal m
• Persian: پایه‎ (fa) (pāye)
• Polish: piedestał (pl) m, postument (pl) m
• Portuguese: pedestal (pt) m
• Romanian: piedestal (ro) n
• Russian: пьедеста́л (ru) m (pʹjedestál), постаме́нт (ru) m (postamént), цо́коль (ru) m (cókolʹ)
• Slovak: podstavec m, piedestál m
• Slovene: podstávek m
• Spanish: pedestal (es) m, peana (es) f
• Swedish: piedestal (sv) c
• Thai: แท่น (tɛ̂n)
• Turkish: ayaklık (tr), duraç (tr), kaide (tr), taban (tr), oturtak
• Ukrainian: п'єдестал m (pʺjedestal)
• Vietnamese: bệ (vi)

Verb

pedestal (third-person singular simple present pedestals, present participle pedestaling, simple past and past participle pedestaled)

1. To set or support on (or as if on) a pedestal.

See also

• pedestal on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Further reading

• pedestal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pedestal in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “pedestal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• depetals, pleadest, step deal, telepads

---

Portuguese

Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestais)

1. (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
2. (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pedesˈtal/, [pe.ð̞esˈt̪al]

Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestales)

1. (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
2. (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

Further reading

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