pillory
[pil-uh-ree]
- 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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- to set in the pillory.
- to expose to public derision, ridicule, or abuse: The candidate mercilessly pilloried his opponent.
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Origin of pillory
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pilloried
Contemporary Examples
He attacked the status quo and he pilloried the powers that be.
A month ago it looked like the NFL might at last be pilloried for its culture of violence and big money.
Pierre Casiraghi, third in the line to the Monaco throne, got punched in a nightclub last year—and pilloried in the press.
The prime minister at the time, Tomiichi Murayama, was pilloried for what many complained was a slow response by his government.
Every administration feels besieged at times, pilloried by the press, misunderstood by the public.
Historical Examples
The others had made haste to withdraw as soon as La Boulaye had been pilloried.
The Trampling of the LiliesRafael Sabatini
And more love, or my face is a false witness and deserves to be pilloried.
The Comedies of William CongreveWilliam Congreve
He resolved not to be pilloried beside her on her pedestal of shame.
The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne
Oates was sentenced to be whipped and pilloried with the utmost severity.
The Diary of John Evelyn, Volume II (of 2)John Evelyn
He was pilloried and imprisoned, and his books burnt by the hangman.
The Every Day Book of History and ChronologyJoel Munsell
pillory
- a wooden framework into which offenders were formerly locked by the neck and wrists and exposed to public abuse and ridicule
- exposure to public scorn or abuse
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- to expose to public scorn or ridicule
- to punish by putting in a pillory
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Word Origin
C13: from Anglo-Latin pillorium, from Old French pilori, of uncertain origin; related to Provençal espillori
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 pilloried
pillory
n.
late 13c. (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 12c.), from Old French pilori "pillory" (mid-12c.), related to Medieval Latin pilloria, of uncertain origin, perhaps a diminutive of Latin pila "pillar, stone barrier" (see pillar), but OED finds this proposed derivation "phonologically unsuitable."
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pillory
v.
c.1600, from pillory (n.). Figurative sense of "expose publicly to ridicule or abuse" is from 1690s. Related: Pilloried.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper