pilaster

[pi-las-ter]

See more synonyms for pilaster on Thesaurus.com

noun Architecture.

a shallow rectangular feature projecting from a wall, having a capital and base and usually imitating the form of a column.

Origin of pilaster

1565–75; pile¹ (in obsolete sense “pillar”) + -aster¹, modeled on Italian pilastro or Medieval Latin pīlastrum

Related formsun·der·pi·las·ter, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for pilaster

promenade, dock, wharf, jetty, dam, pedestal, monument, berth, quay, buttress, column, pillar, landing, pile, levee, slip, upright, post, mole

Examples from the Web for pilaster

Historical Examples of pilaster

A small head or top of a column; the head or uppermost member of a pilaster.
Carpentry for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
Further, there was a pilaster in the middle, below the central bracket.
The Care of Books
John Willis Clark
If not, come with me behind the pilaster, for I have something to say before we separate.'
Stradella
F(rancis) Marion Crawford
In this loggia the name of Giovan Maria is carved on a pilaster.
Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
Giorgio Vasari
It'll cost me three and six to get that there pilaster mended.'
The Light That Failed
Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for pilaster

pilaster

noun

a shallow rectangular column attached to the face of a wall

Derived Formspilastered, adjective

Word Origin for pilaster

C16: from French pilastre, from Latin pīla pillar

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 pilaster

a square column, 1570s, from Middle French pilastre (1540s), from Italian pilastro, from Medieval Latin pilastrum (mid-14c.), from pila, "buttress, pile" (from Latin pila, see pillar) + Latin -aster, suffix "expressing incomplete resemblance" [Barnhart].