different between mainstay vs pillar

English

Etymology

From Middle English main stai, equivalent to main +? stay (“rope”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?me?n.ste?/

Noun

mainstay (plural mainstays)

1. A chief support.
2. Someone or something that can be depended on to make a regular contribution.
3. (nautical) A stabilising rope from the top of the mainmast to the bottom of the foremast.

Translations

Anagrams

• Mayanist

English

Etymology

From Middle English piler, from Old French pilier, from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin *pil?re (“a pillar”), from Latin pila (“a pillar, pier, mole”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?l?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?(?)
• Hyphenation: pil?lar

Noun

pillar (plural pillars)

1. (architecture) A large post, often used as supporting architecture.
2. Something resembling such a structure.

   a pillar of smoke

3. (figuratively) An essential part of something that provides support.

   He's a pillar of the community.
4. (Roman Catholicism) A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Skelton to this entry?)

5. The centre of the volta, ring, or manege ground, around which a horse turns.

Synonyms

• column, sile

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pillar (third-person singular simple present pillars, present participle pillaring, simple past and past participle pillared)

1. To provide with pillars or added strength as if from pillars.

See also

• caterpillar

Further reading

• pillar in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pillar in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• pillar at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “pillar” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• Aprill

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /pi??a/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pi??a?/
• Rhymes: -a(?)

Verb

pillar (first-person singular present pillo, past participle pillat)

1. (transitive) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Conjugation

Portuguese

Noun

pillar m (plural pillares)

1. Obsolete spelling of pilar

Spanish

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian pigliare or French piller. Compare also Portuguese pilhar and English pillage.

Pronunciation

Verb

pillar (first-person singular present pillo, first-person singular preterite pillé, past participle pillado)

1. to catch, get, to grab (e.g. grab a cab, get lunch, grab a drink, catch a movie)
2. to pilfer, steal
3. (games) to tag
4. (colloquial) to get (a joke)
5. (colloquial) to catch, to catch up to
6. (colloquial) to catch, to pick up, to bust, to nab (someone doing something illegal)

   Synonyms: atrapar, sorprender

7. (colloquial) to come down with, catch, to pick up (an illness)
8. (colloquial) to pick up on, to take (e.g. information, a hint)
9. (Spain, colloquial) to score (e.g. drugs)
10. (colloquial, reflexive) to jam (your finger)

    Me pillé el dedo con la puerta ? I jammed my finger in the door.

11. (colloquial, reflexive) to fall in love, to crush on someone

    Creo que se ha pillado de mí ? I think she may have a crush on me.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• pillo
• pillería
• pilla pilla

See also

• agarrar
• asir

Swedish

Verb

pillar

1. present tense of pilla.

Anagrams

• prilla