pier

[peer]

noun

1. a structure built on posts extending from land out over water, used as a landing place for ships, an entertainment area, a strolling place, etc.; jetty.

2. (in a bridge or the like) a support for the ends of adjacent spans.

3. a square pillar.

4. a portion of wall between doors, windows, etc.

5. a pillar or post on which a gate or door is hung.

6. a support of masonry, steel, or the like for sustaining vertical pressure.

7. a long passageway or corridor that extends from a central area of a building, especially one at an airport that leads to boarding gates.

pier

/ pɪə /

noun

1. a structure with a deck that is built out over water, and used as a landing place, promenade, etc

2. a pillar that bears heavy loads, esp one of rectangular cross section

3. the part of a wall between two adjacent openings

4. another name for buttress

Other Word Forms

• underpier noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pier¹

before 1150; Middle English pere, earlier (perhaps late Old English ) per < Anglo-Latin pera, pēra pier of a bridge

Word History and Origins

Origin of pier¹

C12 per, from Anglo-Latin pera pier supporting a bridge

Example Sentences

“Rip currents are typically more frequent and stronger in the vicinity of jetties, inlets, and piers.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Black lampposts line the pier, each one curved to look like the letter f.

Read more on Literature

Across the narrow strip of water, AFP could see the skyline of the Chinese city of Xiamen, the piers of China's unfinished Xiamen-Kinmen bridge and Xiamen's new international airport, due to open next year.

Read more on Barron's

This was how New Yorkers greeted Nikita Khrushchev as his ship docked at a Manhattan pier a month after Frank Powers’s trial in Moscow.

Read more on Literature

Despite the yachts in Biscayne Bay, the park felt more like a secret neighborhood treasure than a see-and-be-seen South Beach stage, thanks to its dog run, fishing piers and a playground inspired by musical instruments.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• dam 
• dock 
• jetty 
• promenade 
• wharf