pillory

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English[edit]

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A pillory.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English pilory, pillorie, from Old French pilori, pellori, which is either from Old Occitan espilori or Latin pīla (“pillar”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɪləɹi/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Noun[edit]

pillory (plural pillories)

  1. A framework on a post, with holes for the hands and head, used as a means of punishment and humiliation.
    • [c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “[Passus 3]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (in Middle English), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC, folio xiii, verso:
      Maires and Maceris that meanes be betwene / The Kynge and the comon to kepe the lawes / To pũnyſhen on pyleries and pynning ſtoles / Bruſterrs and bakeſters, bochers and cokes / For theſe ar mẽ on this mold þe moſt harme worketh / To the pore people that percel mele byghe[...]
      Mayors and mace-bearers, the means are between / The king and the commons to see the law kept, / To punish on pillories and punishment stools / Brewers and bakers, butchers and cooks, / For these are this world's men that work the most harm / To the poor people that must buy piece-meal.]
    • [c. 1400, “Dispute between Mary and the Cross”, in Richard Morris, editor, Legends of the Holy Rood: Symbols of the Passions and Cross Poems, stanza I, page 131:
      Cros·! þou dost no trouþe ; / On a pillori· my fruit to pinne, / He haþ no spot· of Adam sinne ; / Flesch· and veines· nou fleo a-twinne, / Wherfore I· rede of routhe·:]
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, →OCLC, page 126:
      The other replied, That for ought they could ſee, the men were quiet, and ſober, and intended no body any harm ; and that there were many that Traded in their fair, that were more worthy to be put into the Cage, yea, and the Pillory too, then were the men that they had abuſed.

Translations[edit]

framework on a post used as a means of punishment and humiliation

Verb[edit]

pillory (third-person singular simple present pillories, present participle pillorying, simple past and past participle pilloried)

  1. (transitive) To put in a pillory.
  2. (transitive) To subject to humiliation, scorn, ridicule or abuse.
    • 2008, Steven Daly, “Swinging into Disaster”, in Graydon Carter, editor, Vanity Fair’s Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films, Penguin, →ISBN, page 242:
      Mike Sarne would end up making a celluloid disasterpiece that is to this day pilloried as one of the worst films ever made.
  3. (transitive) To criticize harshly.
    • 2011 September 24, Aled Williams, “Chelsea 4 - 1 Swansea”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      The breakthrough came through Torres who, pilloried for his miss against Manchester United a week earlier, scored his second goal of the season.
    • 2021 September 29, Jennifer Szalai, “In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress”, in The New York Times‎[2], →ISSN:
      [T]o suggest that their mere acquaintance in any way undermines Pinker’s work would be to make the kind of ad hominem fallacy that he rightfully pillories in this book.

Translations[edit]

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