Showing results for piton. Search instead for pitons.

piton

American

[pee-ton] / ˈpi tɒn /

noun

Mountain Climbing.

a metal spike with an eye through which a rope may be passed.

piton British

/ pitɔ̃, ˈpiːtɒn /

noun

mountaineering a metal spike that may be driven into a crevice of rock or into ice and used to secure a rope

"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

Etymology

Origin of piton

1895–1900; < French: ringbolt, peak (of a mountain)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Where to hammer a piton into rock or ice to secure a rope on which life might hang?

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2017

I got as far as Walkaway, and I want to stick a pin in the board there, or hammer a piton into the side of the cliff, to help me find the next step there.

From The Verge • Jul. 16, 2017

It was like rock climbing: one piton stake at a time.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2016

Siegert and his companions hammered in a piton every 3 ft., averaged only 100 ft. a day.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then, working carefully, he hammered the piton into a narrow cleft in the rock.

From Anchorite by Schelling, George Luther

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023