▪ I. pillar, n.
(ˈpɪlə(r))
Forms: α. 3–6 piler, (3–5 -ere, 4 pelyr, -ar, 4–5 -er, pylere, 4–6 pyler, pylar, 5 pelare, -ere, -our, pylour, -eer, 6 pylard). β. 4–5 pillare, (4 -yre), 4–6 pyllar, (5 pillere, pyllare), 5–6 pyller, (pillour, peller), 5–7 piller, (6 -or), 6– pillar.
[a. OF. piler (mod.F. pilier) = Pr., Sp. pilar:—late pop.L. pīlāre (in med.L. also pīlārium, -us), deriv. of L. pīla pillar, pier, mass.]
1. a. Arch. A detached vertical structure of stone, brick, wood, metal, or other solid material, slender or narrow in proportion to its height, and of any shape in section, used either as a vertical support of some superstructure, as a stable point of attachment for something heavy and oscillatory, or standing alone as a conspicuous monument or ornament; also, a natural pillar-shaped stone, etc. A word of wider application than column (which is properly a pillar of particular shape and proportions), and applicable to a structure composed of several columns or shafts, engaged in a central core.
pillar of flagellation, that to which Christ was supposed to have been bound when scourged; hence, ‘the pillar’ was one of the Symbols of the Passion. Cf. flagellation, passion-flower.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 188 His swete bodi ibunden naked to þe herde pilere. 13.. Coer de L. 2600 A gret cheyne..Ovyr the havene..festnyd to two pelers. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 1140 A pelyr of marbyl. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxi. (Clement) 206 Þare of glas twa mykil pelaris ware. Ibid. xxxvi. (Baptista) 779 In myddis wes a pillare, Þat þe charge of þe kirk suld bere. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxiii. (1495) 710 To vndersette bemes and gyestys wyth postes or pylars. a 1400 in Rel. Ant. I. 6 Torques, a pillyre. c 1400 Destr. Troy 310 Tow pyllers he [Hercules] pight..Vppon Gades groundes. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xxvi, The marchand wente tille one pillere. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 722/3 Hic stilus, a peller. 14.. Sir Beues 1133 (MS. M.) Pelouris and durris were all of brasse. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 398/2 Pylere, columpna. a 1450 Cursor M. 16433 (Laud MS.) To a pillour [Trin. piler] they hym bond. c 1450 Lydg. Secrees 705 Reysed in a pyleer. 1483 Cath. Angl. 278/1 A Pyllare, columpna. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxii. 34 Till ane pillar thai him band. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1068 His precious body was tyed to the pylar by Pilate. Ibid., The pylard and the crosse. 1535 Coverdale Gen. xix. 26 His wife..was turned in to a pillar of salt. ― Judg. xvi. 26 They set him between two pilers. 1570 Levins Manip. 76/2 A Pillor, columna. 1579 Nottingham Rec. IV. 189 Posterne Brygg..in decay for wante of a pillar. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 28 Like two faire marble pillours..Which doe the temple of the Gods support. 1644 Evelyn Diary 12 Nov., [In the Church of S. Praxedeis, Rome] is the Pillar or Stump at which they relate our Bl. Saviour was scourged. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 112 All the bones..may be compared to a pillar supporting a building. 1780 Von Troil Iceland 20 The most remarkable are Oransay and Columskill, on account of their antiquities;..and Staffa, on account of its natural pillars. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. vii. 71 All good architecture adapted to vertical support is made up of pillars. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. viii. 265 As the surface [of the glacier] sinks, it leaves behind a pillar of ice, on which the block is elevated. |
† b. A whipping-post.
† c. A platform or stand on which women publicly appeared as a penance.
| 1530 Palsgr. 254/1 Pyller to do justyce, estache. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 78 Was sett up at the standerde in Cheppe a pyller new made of a good lengthe from the grownde, and too yonge servanddes tayed un-to yt..and to bettyn with roddes soore on their backes. Ibid. 95 The same man..was betten with whyppes at the peller in Chepe at the standert. c 1580 in Jyl of Brentford's Test., etc. (1871) 40 Ye vold taiken it ill to me..and mad me sit on the pillar of repentance. 1646 in Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 42/1 That women who appear on the pillar with plaids, and holds not down their plaids from their heads, it shall not be esteemed a day of their appearance. 1647 Ibid., Pillars and a place of public repentance to be made in the New Kirk and Blackfriars. |
d. Manège. (See
quot.)
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Pillar, in the manage, signifies the centre of the volta, ring, or manage-ground, round which a horse turns; whether there be a wooden pillar placed therein, or not. 1819 Pantologia s.v., Most..riding-schools have pillars fixed in the middle of the manage ground. |
e. = pillar-box.
| 1865 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 255 Should it [the letter] be put in the pillar to-night? 1884 Edna Lyall We Two xxxvii, Just drop that in the pillar on your way home. |
2. a. In wider sense: Any plain or ornamental vertical support to any structure; a post, a pedestal;
e.g., one of the four posts of a bedstead; one of the posts in a framed truss in a roof; a vertical post of timber or iron supporting a horizontal deck-beam; the single central support or pedestal of a table, a machine, etc.; also
attrib., as
pillar (and claw) table,
stand, etc., having a pillar (and claws: see
claw n. 5).
| 1360–1 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 384 Rogero Turnour pro pylers pro eisdem lectis. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 136 Þe pilers þat beres þe tablez er of þe same maner of precious stanes. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 24 Fyrst take the pylere out of thyne ye, Or one me thou put anny defaute. 1607 in W. H. Hale Prec. in Causes of Office (1841) 7 To provide a new comunion table with turned pillers before Easter. 1657 Wood Life 14 Aug. (O.H.S.) I. 225 All curiously cut in stone in the pillars of the window. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 88 Making every brace bear up its pillar, and every pillar the cross beam. 1744 Warrick in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 487 A middle sized pillar and claw tea-table. 1774 M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 42 How to adjust Bird's twelve-inch Quadrant... The Pillar is to be set perpendicular to the Horizon. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Pillars (Mar.), pieces of wood or iron fitted under the beams of the decks, in order to support them. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 302 The lever..is ten feet long, nine feet from the smaller end to the axis of suspension in the pillar M, and one foot from the latter point to the eye of the descending rod. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 137 Pillars, the square or turned pieces of timber erected perpendicularly under the middle of the beams for the support of the decks. 1867–77 G. F. Chambers Astron. vii. ii. 637 Telescope mounted on a Pillar-and-Claw Stand. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §768 A round table is generally described as having ‘pillars and claws’. |
b. The upright post in the frame of a harp.
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 52/2 Its form [Irish harp] is not unlike that of the modern instrument, but the pillar is curved outwards. 1880 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 685/1 The pillar is hollow to include the rods working the mechanism. |
c. A metal column in the bodywork of a vehicle separating the front and rear doors, or the front door and wind-screen. Also, a thin metal strip dividing the windscreen into two parts.
| 1907 Car 25 Sept. 261/1 The hind pillars were painted white from top to bottom. 1926 Motor 26 Oct. 637/1 The roof..slides back as far as the pillars in front of the rear doors. 1937 Motor 9 Mar. 219/3 A point..noticeable when sitting in the car is the wide range of vision made possible by extremely narrow pillars. 1938 Times 13 Oct. 8/1 Designers are..taking..pains to reduce the width of pillars. 1964 Which? Car Suppl. Apr. 47/2 The VW Devonette had its windscreen divided by a pillar which did not help forward vision. 1971 Sci. Amer. Oct. 11/3 (Advt.), Deflector fins on the front pillars keep the side windows free from dirt. 1977 Custom Car Nov. 19/2 The new Granada shape is clean and very smart, though it has lost the rather pleasant kink by the rear pillar. |
3. fig. a. An imaginary or ideal prop or support on which the heavens or the earth is poetically represented as resting.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5388 Þe pylers of heven bright. 1382 Wyclif Job xxvi. 11 The pileris of heuene togidere quaken. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxiv. [lxxv.] 3 The earth is weake & all that is therein, but I beare vp hir pilers. 1707 Watts Hymn, ‘Praise, everlasting praise’ vii, Then, should the earth's old pillars shake [etc.]. |
b. A person who is a main supporter of a church, state, institution, or principle; in
phr. pillar of society,
pillar of the establishment (see also 3 c below).
| c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II 39 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 325 Seint Thomas..a piler ariht to holden up holi churche. 1382 Wyclif Gal. ii. 9 James, and Cephas or Petre, and John, the whiche weren seyn to be pileris. 1485 Caxton Charles the Grete 31 The patryarke of Iherusalem..sente to hym [Charles] the standart of the fayth as to the pyler of crystente. 1590 Spenser To Ld. Grey of Wilton, Most Noble Lord, the pillor of my life. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse D iij b, What age will not praise immortal Sir Philip Sidney..Sir Nicholas Bacon..and merry sir Thomas Moore, for the chiefe pillers of our Eenglish speeche. 1594 Contention i. i. 75 Braue Peeres of England, pillers of the State. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §110 The Earl of Manchester, and the Earl of Warwick, were the two Pillars of the Presbyterian Party. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxvii. III. 22 The scourge of Arianism, and the pillar of the orthodox faith. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxiv, Some divinely gifted man..The pillar of a people's hope. 1961 Ann. Reg. 1960 445 The melodramas and crime dramas included..Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, with Felix Aylmer as a small-town pillar of society responsible for the seduction of small girls. 1961 New Eng. Bible Gal. ii. 9 Those reputed pillars of our society, James, Cephas, and John, accepted Barnabas and myself as partners. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 32 One by one the pillars of the establishment—Lord Salisbury, Lord Stuart of Findhorn, Lord Eccles among them—deserted a baffled and pleading Lord Chancellor. 1970 Nature 26 Sept. 1371/1 Those pillars of the establishment of the 1920s, such as Nancy Astor, Lord Haldane and the editors of The Times and The Observer. 1979 D. Clarke Heberden's Seat iii. 48 Heberden! A pillar of society locally. |
c. A fact or principle which is a main support or stay of something.
| 1578 Timme Caluine on Gen. 324 To the end the new promise may lean upon a better piller. 1640 Quarles Enchirid. i. xlvi, A Kingdome..whose two maine Supporters are the Government of the State, and the Government of the Church: It is the part of a wise Master to keepe those Pillars in their first posture. 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 67 The pillar and ground of Transubstantiation is supplanted. a 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. 30 The church was the pillar and ground of truth, made up of living stones. 1888 W. Archer tr. H. Ibsen (title) The pillars of society and other plays. 1900 Morley Cromwell 46 Free Inquiry and Free Conscience, the twin pillars of Protestantism. 1902 G. B. Shaw Mrs. Warren's Profession Pref. p. vii, Dearer still..is that sense of the sudden earthquake shock to the foundations of morality which sends a pallid crowd of critics into the street shrieking that the pillars of society are cracking and the ruin of the State at hand. |
4. a. transf. An upright pillar-like mass or ‘column’ of air, vapour, water, sand, etc.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3293 A fair piler son hem on o niȝt, And a skie euere on daiȝes liȝt. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xiii. 21 The Lord..wente beforn hem..bi day in the pilere of a clowde, and bi nyȝt in a piler of fier. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxviii. vi, A flaming piller glitt'ring in the skies. 1611 Bible Joel ii. 30 Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 1702 Savery Miner's Friend 62 Such an immense Weight as a Pillar of Water a thousand foot high. 1755 Young Centaur i. Wks. 1757 IV. 125 The Scripture, like the cloudy pillar..is light to the true Israelite, but darkness to the Egyptians. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 50 The same appearance of moving pillars of sand again presented them⁓selves. |
b. transf. Pressure resulting from or indicated by a column of liquid.
| 1843 Budd's Patent Specif. No. 9495 A blast of atmospheric air..maintained at a pressure or pillar of upwards of 2½ lbs. on the square inch. 1857 S. B. Rogers Iron Metall. 94. |
† 5. A portable pillar borne as an ensign of dignity or office.
Obs. exc. Hist. Two of these, of silver gilt, were borne by pillar-bearers before Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Pole. They are not recorded otherwise, and appear to have been substituted by Wolsey for the silver mace or stick with a silver (or gold) head, to which a cardinal had a right, and to have been retained by Pole. Representations of Wolsey's pillars, sometimes borne by griffins, sometimes crossed in saltire with an archbishop's cross between, occur in the decorations of Christ Church, Oxford. Those of Pole are represented in the illumination on the first page of his Register of Wills at Somerset House; they are figured as Corinthian columns with capital and base, about the size of Roman fasces, 3½ to 4 ft. long.
| 1518 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 12 He havinge borne before him 2 pillers of sylver and guylt. c 1525 Barnes Cause of Condemnation Wks. (1572) 215/1 Then sayd hee [Wolsey],..were it better for me..to coyne my pyllers, and pollaxes, and to geue the money to .v. or vj. beggers?.. To this I did aunswere, that..the pyllers and pollaxes came with him, and should also goe away with him. c 1525 Skelton Speke Parrot 510 Suche pollaxis and pyllers, suche mvlys trapte with gold. 1528 Rede me (Arb.) 56 After theym folowe two laye men secular, And eache of theym holdynge a pillar In their hondes, steade of a mace. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 57 b. He [Wolsey] receaued the habite, hat and piller and other vaynglorious tryfles, apperteygnyng to the ordre of a Cardinall. 1599 Thynne Animadv. 63 Euery Cardinall had, for parte of his honorable ensignes borne before hym, certeine siluer pillers; as had cardinall Wolsey..and Cardinall Poole, in my memory. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iv. (Stage direct.). |
† 6. A column of letterpress or figures;
= column n. 4.
Obs.| 1557 Recorde Whetst. K j, A table..where in the firste columpne you se the rootes set, and in the seconde piller, right against eche roote, there is set his square. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 104 The pages divided into pillars and columns. |
7. Mining. A solid mass of coal or other mineral, of rectangular area and varying extent, left to support the roof of the working.
pillar and stall, also
pillar and room,
board and pillar, a method of working coal and other minerals in which pillars are left during the first stage of excavation;
rib and pillar, a modification of this system.
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 43 The Remainder of four Yards is left for a Pillar to support the Roof and Weight of the Earth above. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 975 Working coal⁓mines..with pillars and rooms, styled post and stall. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 38 Pillars vary from 20 to 40 yards in length, and from 2 to 20 yards in thickness. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Rib and Pillar.., a system upon which the Thick coal seam was formerly..mined. 1904 Daily Chron. 24 Sept. 8/4 Most of the coal in America is mined on what is called the pillar-and-stall system. |
8. In various technical uses in particular trades;
e.g. in
Watch-making (see
quots.).
| 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1991/4 Another Watch a Spelter Box and Case all in one..with a round Pillar going 18 hours. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1703/2 Pillar..[inter alia] The nipple of a fire-arm. A frame on which the tobacco-pipes rest in a kiln. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 193 The pillars of a watch are the three or four short pieces of brass which serve to keep the two plates of the movements in their proper relative positions. |
9. Anat. and
Phys. Applied to certain bodily structures in reference to their form or function: as
pillars of the abdominal ring,
pillar of the brain,
pillar of the fauces,
pillar of the diaphragm: see
quots.| 1807–26 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 463 The abdominal ring..which is rather of a triangular shape, the os pubis forming the base of the triangle; the two fasciculi, or, as they are termed, pillars, its sides. 1876 Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 81 The pillars of the fauces were immovable. 1893 Syd. Soc. Lex., Pillars of external abdominal ring, the free borders of the divided aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle, which bound the external abdominal ring. Ibid., Pillars of fauces, two arching folds of mucous membrance containing muscular fibres, which pass from the base of the uvula outwards and downwards, on either side. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 74 The posterior mediastinum between the pillars of the diaphragm. |
10. Conch. The central axis of a spiral shell; the modiolus or columella.
| 1841 Johnson in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 269 Throat of the aperture brown, the pillar pale. 1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol. & Min., Pillar, in Conchology, the columella, or perpendicular centre, which extends from the base to the apex, in most of the spiral shells. |
11. Phrase.
from pillar to post, originally
from post to pillar: from one party or place of appeal or resource to another; hither and thither, to and fro: implying repulse and harassment.
Orig. a figure drawn from the real-tennis court, and used chiefly with
toss; also with
bang,
bounce,
bandy,
drive; later with
chase,
hunt,
drag,
flee,
run, etc.
The later order appears to have been first used to rime with
tost,
tossed.
| a. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1147 Thus fro poost to pylour he was made to daunce. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy) 67 From poste unto piller tossed shalt thou be. 1549 Latimer 7th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arber) 199 He was tost from post to piller, one whyle to hys father..anothe whyle, to hys frendes, and founde no comfort at them. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Comf. Afflict. (1585) E ij, The prophet Ely, being persecuted..fledde from post to pillar. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arber) 104 From thee poast toe piler with thoght his rackt wyt he tosseth. 1631 Heywood Eng. Eliz. (1641) 79 Hurried from one place to an other, from post to pillar. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xv. (1737) 63 They had been..toss'd about from Post to Pillar. 1859 Jephson Brittany iv. 37 Dragged about from post to pillar. |
| b. a 1550 Vox Populi 185 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 274 From piller vnto post The powr man he was tost. 1598 Tofte Alba (1880) 70 And though from piller tost he be to poste. a 1602 Liberality & Prodigality ii. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 349 Every minute tost, Like to a tennis-ball, from pillar to post. a 1624 Breton Charac. Eliz. Wks. (Grosart) 5/1 In the tyme of her sister Queene Maries raigne, how was shee handled? tost from piller to post, imprisoned, sought to be put to death. 1664 Cotton Scarron. i. 6 A Trojan true..Who..Was packt, and wrackt, and lost, and tost, And bounc'd from Pillar unto Post. 1807 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 91 If the several courts could bandy him from pillar to post. 1832 H. Martineau Homes Abr. v. 63 We could not have borne to be..driven from pillar to post. 1891 T. Hardy Tess i, Here I have been knocking about..from pillar to post. |
| attrib. 1886 Saintsbury Ess. Eng. Lit. (1891) 241 The inveterate habit of pillar-to-post joking. 1887 Pall Mall G. 31 Aug. 2/2 The pillar-to-post travels from one official to another. |
12. attrib. and
Comb., as
pillar-bearer (sense 5),
pillar-cap,
pillar-head,
pillar-orphrey,
pillar-pin (sense 8),
pillar-punishment,
pillar-row;
pillar-shaped,
pillar-strong,
pillar-wise adjs.;
pillar-like adj. and
adv.;
pillar (and) scroll (top) clock (see
quot. 1960);
pillar apostle, a chief apostle (a name given to Peter, James, and John, in allusion to
Gal. ii. 9);
pillar bracket Mech., a support for a bearing raised on a pedestal or pillar: opposed to
pendent bracket;
pillar-brick, one of the bricks placed on end in building a clamp;
pillar-buoy, ? a cylindrical or pillar-shaped buoy;
pillar clock (see
quot. 1962);
pillar-compass: see
quot.;
pillar-cross, a pillar with cruciform summit;
pillar-deity, a deity worshipped under the symbol of a phallic pillar;
pillar-dollar: see
dollar 5;
pillar drill or
drilling machine Engin., a drilling machine incorporating a work-table supported on a column attached to the base of the machine;
pillar-file: see
quots.;
pillar-hermit = pillarist 1;
pillar letter-box = pillar-box;
pillar-lip Conch., the inner lip of a spiral shell;
pillar-monk,
-percher = pillarist 1;
pillar-plait Conch., a columellar fold;
pillar plate, the plate of a watch movement next behind the dial;
pillar-post = pillar-box;
pillar-road Coal-mining: see
quot.;
pillar rose, a climbing rose suitable for training on a pillar;
pillar-saint = pillarist 1;
pillar-stone, (
a) a stone set up as a monument; (
b) a foundation-stone, corner-stone;
pillar-symbol, a pillar erected in honour of a phallic deity, or with some kindred signification;
pillar-wall Coal-mining = sense 7;
pillar-working, driving a working through the pillars: see sense 7.
| 1882–3 Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 1814 Later he [Peter] was one of the three *pillar-apostles. 1886 Pall Mall G. 26 Apr. 4/2 St. Paul had seen two of those called the pillar Apostles shortly after the Master's death. |
| a 1562 Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 25 He had ii crosberers & ii *piller berers. |
| 1887 Low Machine Draw. 34 End elevation of a *pillar bracket for carrying a pillow block. |
| 1858 Merc. Marine Mag. V. 285 A Black *Pillar Buoy bearing a bell, with perch and ball. |
| 1933 Burlington Mag. Aug. p. xvi/1 Mr. Mody..retains the useful terms ‘Lantern, Bracket, and *Pillar Clocks’ to describe the main types. 1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 131 Pillar clock, French drum clock with round movement and dial on four vertical pillars standing on a round base. The pendulum hangs in the middle of the pillars... Also a special form of Japanese clock showing time by a pointer moving along a linear scale, or any clock on a pillar. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Pillar-compass, a pair of dividers, the legs of which are so arranged that the lower part may be taken out, forming, respectively, a bow-pen and bow-pencil. |
| 1849 J. D. Chambers in Ecclesiologist IX. 89 The Scotch *pillar-crosses we must assign to Danish times. |
| 1874 Westropp & Wake Anc. Symbol Worship 61 The peculiar titles given to these *pillar-deities..led to their original phallic character being somewhat overlooked. |
| 1881 E. Matheson Aid Bk. Engin. Enterprise II. xxiii. 313 The self-contained *Pillar drill is useful, as there is more room around the machine within which to move the article. 1942 W. Steeds Engin. Materials xiii. 204 The sensitive drilling machines taking drills up to about 1/8 or 3/16 in. diameter and the pillar drill up to as much as 2 in. diameter, according to size. 1964 S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes ix. 224 The multi-spindle machines consist of a series of pillar drills mounted over a common table, thus eliminating the constant tool change associated with the single-spindle machine. |
| 1873 C. P. B. Shelley Workshop Appliances vii. 214 (heading) Double-geared *pillar drilling machine. 1975 Bram & Downs Manuf. Technol. vii. 198 The pillar drilling-machine..is similar in general design to the sensitive drill. |
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ¶3 A small Flat-File, called a *Pillar-File. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 193 A pillar file is generally understood to mean one three inches and a half long from the point to the end of the cut. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 278/1 A *Pillare hede.., abacus, epistilium. |
| 1879 Trollope Duke's Children (1880) I. xxiv. 284 ‘Has it gone?’ asked the Countess. ‘I put it myself into the *pillar letter-box.’ |
| 1682 Creech Lucretius (1683) 199 Dark and heavy Clouds..*Pillar-like descend and reach the Seas. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 304 Placed in a whirl round the pillar-like receptacle. |
| 1776 Da Costa Conchol. x. 218 Umbilicated Whelks, or those that have a perpendicular hollow or navel aside the columella or *pillar⁓lip. 1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol. & Min., Pillar-lip,..a continuation of the glossy process with which the aperture of shells is lined, expanded on the columella. |
| a 1638 Mede Apostasy Later Times 150 Peter à Metra, a famous Stylite, or *Pillar-Monk. |
| 1888 F. G. Lee in Archæol. LI. 362 An inscription runs down the *pillar-orphrey of the chasuble. |
| 1791 G. Wakefield Enquiry 15 The perseverance of Simeon the *pillar-percher. |
| 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 327/1 Push out the *pillar pins, and remove the top plate. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 504 This pinion drives the wheel x round a stud on the *pillar-plate. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 199 The chief plate called the pillar plate lies underneath the dial. |
| 1881 H. James Portr. Lady xv, The big red *pillar-post on the south-east corner. |
| 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 59 Not alone this *pillar-punishment. |
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, *Pillar Roads, working-roads or inclines in pillars having a range of long-wall faces on either side. |
| 1837 T. Rivers Rose Amateur's Guide 81 Clarissa Harlowe is a *pillar-rose, of first-rate excellence. 1856 Mrs. Stowe Dred II. 129 She was sitting..under the shadow of one of the pillar-roses. 1869 S. R. Hole Bk. about Roses ix. 128 These Pillar Roses are beautiful additions to the Rosarium. 1882 Garden 27 May 368/3 Pillar Roses..are often overlooked as regards watering. 1965 G. S. Thomas Climbing Roses xii. 176 Isolated pillars to take ‘pillar’ roses can be connected with a wooden beam. 1974 News & Press (Darlington, S. Carolina) 25 Apr. 7/4 Pillar roses at the lantern post are not only beautiful by day but have an accent of beauty when the light is turned on at night. |
| 1860 C. Jerome Hist. Amer. Clock Business iii. 44, I took about one dozen of the *Pillar Scroll Top Clocks, and went to..Wethersfield to sell them. 1912 N. H. Moore Old Clock Bk. caption facing p. 113 Pillar and scroll top clock. 1929 G. H. Baillie Watchmakers & Clockmakers of World 349/2 They were at first wall clocks, but from 1814 brackets or shelf clocks known as Pillar Scroll Top clocks. 1950 B. Palmer Bk. Amer. Clocks 10 The Pillar and Scroll Clock remained the most popular Shelf Clock until about 1825 and survived well into the 1830's. 1960 H. Hayward Antiq. Coll. 218/2 Pillar and scroll clock, an American shelf or mantel clock... The wooden works are housed in a vertical rectangular case with a scrolled-arch top, small, round pillars at the sides, and delicately small feet. 1970 K. D. Roberts Contrib. of Joseph Ives to Connecticut Clock Technol. 1810–1862 iv. 64 (caption) Pillar and scroll shelf clock with looking glass by Ives and Lewis. |
| 1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Explan. Terms 392 Cylindrica, *pillar-shaped. |
| 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 218 note, Our columns and *pillar-stones. 1832 G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 164 A rude pillar-stone here marks the spot where, in 1444, the burgomaster Stussi fell. 1854 Ecclesiologist XV. 361 A word that has lately become popular in the Ecclesiastical Gazette and elsewhere—for what we used to know as the ‘first’ or corner stone of a church—I mean ‘pillar stone’. |
| 1657 R. Carpenter Astrology 1 The Reason is *Pillar-strong. |
| 1874 Westropp & Wake Anc. Symbol Worship 51 Another instance of the use of the *pillar-symbol. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 980 Taking out all the coal, either on the Shropshire system, or with *pillar⁓walls and rooms. |
| 1857 Dufferin Lett. High Lat. vii. 160 The brass carronades set on end, *pillar-wise. |
| 1882 Standard 19 Aug. 3/5 Constituting ‘an especial danger’ in *pillar working or in the long-wall face. |
▪ II. pillar, v. (
ˈpɪlə(r))
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To support, buttress, or strengthen with or as with pillars. Also
fig.| 1607 [see pillaring below]. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 40 Pillaring of Beams is to a Ship as Bracing to a Drum. 1839 J. Rogers Antipopopr. xvi. iv. 333 Five particular plans for pillaring up the priesthood. 1880 Mem. J. Legge iv. 46 It needs the props of truth to pillar it. |
b. intr. To rest on or be supported by a pillar.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 36 So order the Beams, that they may pillar on the Floor-riders. |
2. trans. To embody in the form of a pillar; to display in the figure of a pillar.
rare.
| 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. vii, Yet strength was pillared in each massy aisle. 1846 Tennyson in Ld. Tennyson Mem. (1897) I. xi. 231 Hotel full of light.., pillaring its lights in the quiet water. 1890 H. Hayman in Dublin Rev. Oct. 424 The inward and outward wholeness of sincerity..pillars itself aloft over their heads. |
3. to pillar and post (
nonce-phr.), to drive from pillar to post: see
pillar n. 11.
| 1901 Gwendoline Keats Tales Dunstable Weir 62 He must have been pillared and posted a deal in his bit of life. |
Hence
ˈpillaring vbl. n.| 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. ii. 66 Scarce any thing else is thought on, then the pillering vp of ceremonies. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 116 The pillaring of a frame adds..to its strength, by acting both as a strut and a tie. |
▪ III. pillar variant of
pillor v.
Obs., to pillory.