pillory

American  

[pil-uh-ree] / ˈpɪl ə ri /

noun

plural

pillories

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)

pilloried, pillorying

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

• unpilloried
  adjective

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

—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

In his Hymn to the Pillory he had declared that Sacheverell ought to stand there in his place.

From Daniel Defoe by Minto, William

At the very time he was in the hands of the ministry, to shew the invincible force of his mind, he wrote a Hymn to the Pillory, as a kind of defiance of their power.

From The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV by Cibber, Theophilus

In the conclusion of the Hymn to the Pillory, which is written with great strength of expression, he assigns the reasons for his being doomed to that ignominy.

From The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV by Cibber, Theophilus