pillar
/ˈpɪlɚ/ noun C1- A large post, often used as supporting architecture.
- Something resembling such a structure. · a pillar of smoke
- An essential part of something that provides support. · He's a pillar of the community.
- A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church.
- The centre of the volta, ring, or manege ground, around which a horse turns.
- The body from the hips over the core to the shoulders.
- A vertical, often spire-shaped, natural rock formation.
Plural pillars
From the library
Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars, weather-stained and lichen-blotched, bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which had once been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone.
Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
By a sort of instinctive impulse, Franz withdrew as much as possible behind his pillar.
A few minutes later we had reached the lodge-gates, a maze of fantastic tracery in wrought iron, with weather-bitten pillars on either side, blotched with lichens, and surmounted by the boars’ heads of the Baskervilles.
Other matches
Learn pillar in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.