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pedestal

[ ped-uh-stl ]
/ ˈpɛd ə stl /
||

noun

an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like.
a supporting structure or piece; base.
Furniture.
  1. a support for a desk, consisting of a boxlike frame containing drawers one above the other.
  2. a columnar support for a tabletop.
Building Trades. a bulge cast at the bottom of a concrete pile.

verb (used with object), ped·es·taled, ped·es·tal·ing or (especially British) ped·es·talled, ped·es·tal·ling.

to put on or supply with a pedestal.

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Nearby words

  1. pederast,
  2. pederasty,
  3. pedernales,
  4. pedes,
  5. pedesis,
  6. pedestal table,
  7. pedestrian,
  8. pedestrian crossing,
  9. pedestrianism,
  10. pedestrianize

Idioms

    set/put on a pedestal, to glorify; idealize: When we first became engaged each of us set the other on a pedestal.

Origin of pedestal

1555–65; alteration of Middle French piedestal < Italian piedestallo, variant of piedistallo literally, foot of stall. See ped-2, de, stall1
Related formsun·ped·es·tal, verb (used with object), un·ped·es·taled, un·ped·es·tal·ing or (especially British) un·ped·es·talled, un·ped·es·tal·ling.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pedestalled

  • Since the day before, Geoffrey had been for her a figure aureoled and pedestalled—strange transfiguration of the statesman statue!

    Paths of Judgement|Anne Douglas Sedgwick

  • Especially are they needed by the pedestalled woman in her conflict with the natural.

    Diana of the Crossways, Complete|George Meredith

  • It was Cromwell's mood, as one who, living under the eye of God, scorned the vapourings of pedestalled mortals.

    The Path of the King|John Buchan

  • The gleam of the torches flickered up gigantic colonnades, pedestalled on beautiful little groups of caryatids.

    The Death of the Gods|Dmitri Mrejkowski
British Dictionary definitions for pedestalled

pedestal

/ (ˈpɛdɪstəl) /

noun

a base that supports a column, statue, etc, as used in classical architecture
a position of eminence or supposed superiority (esp in the phrases place, put, or set on a pedestal)
  1. either of a pair of sets of drawers used as supports for a writing surface
  2. (as modifier)a pedestal desk

Word Origin for pedestal

C16: from French piédestal, from Old Italian piedestallo, from pie foot + di of + stallo a stall
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pedestalled

pedestal

n.

1560s, "base supporting a column, statue, etc.," from Middle French piédestal (1540s), from Italian piedistallo "base of a pillar," from pie "foot" + di "of" + stallo "stall, place, seat," from a Germanic source (see stall (n.1)).

Spelling in English influenced by Latin pedem "foot." An Old English word for it was fotstan, literally "foot-stone." Figurative sense of put (someone) on a pedestal "regard as highly admirable" is attested from 1859.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with pedestalled

pedestal

see on a pedestal.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.