pillory

American  

[pil-uh-ree] / ˈpɪl ə ri /

noun

pillories plural

1. a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision.

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verb (used with object)

pillories, present (3rd person singular) pilloried, past participle, past pillorying present participle

1. to set in the pillory.

2. to expose to public derision, ridicule, or abuse.

   The candidate mercilessly pilloried his opponent.

pillory British  

/ ˈpɪlərɪ /

noun

1. a wooden framework into which offenders were formerly locked by the neck and wrists and exposed to public abuse and ridicule

2. exposure to public scorn or abuse

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verb

1. to expose to public scorn or ridicule

2. to punish by putting in a pillory

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unpilloried
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• pillories
  plural

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have pilloried
  perfect
• has pilloried
  perfect 3rd person singular
• am pillorying
  progressive 1st person singular
• is pillorying
  progressive 3rd person singular
• are pillorying
  progressive
• has been pillorying
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• pillories
  singular 3rd person
• have been pillorying
  perfect progressive
• pillorying
  participle

Past

• had pilloried
  perfect
• had been pillorying
  perfect progressive
• were pillorying
  progressive plural
• was pillorying
  progressive singular
• pilloried
  simple
• pilloried
  participle

Future

• will pillory
  simple
• will have pilloried
  perfect
• will have been pillorying
  perfect progressive
• will be pillorying
  progressive

Etymology

Origin of pillory

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English pyllory, from Old French pilori, perhaps from Medieval Latin pīlōrium, equivalent to Latin pīl(a) “pillar” ( see pile ¹) + -ōrium noun suffix ( see -ory ²), though Romance variants such as Provençal espillori suggest a less transparent source

Explanation

A pillory is a wooden frame with cutouts for someone's head and hands. Long ago, people found guilty of a crime could be sentenced to be locked in a pillory for a certain amount of time for punishment but also for public humiliation. The verb pillory means to be punished by being locked in a pillory, but references to this form of punishment are historic and it is no longer used — you might see references today to someone in a pillory in a cartoon. As a modern verb, pillory means both to criticize harshly and to expose to public ridicule. Someone who is caught doing something immoral may be pilloried and people who believe they have been unfairly criticized say they have been pilloried, but often only after they've been exposed!

Example Sentences

One Area in Which Congress Excels: Naming Post Offices Pillory Congress all you want as do-nothing or dysfunctional, as its critics often have.

From New York Times • May 28, 2013

Will hurl you an Official of Rank, where need is, into the Pillory; sets him, in one actual instance, to permanent sweeping of the streets in Vienna.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21 by Carlyle, Thomas

—Where are ye, Sir?—hah, cuts so—what new-found Pillory have we here?

From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume II by Summers, Montague

Nothing remained but the figure in gold of that bloody Pillory on which He died on whom two hundred millions of human beings rely for intercession with their Creator and Destiny.

From Tales of the Chesapeake by Townsend, George Alfred

Josephs had been in the Pillory about an hour when it so happened that the Reverend John Jones, the chaplain of the jail, came into the yard.

From It Is Never Too Late to Mend by Reade, Charles