Etymology From Middle English piler, from Old French pilier, from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin *pilāre (“a pillar”), from Latin pila (“a pillar, pier, mole”).
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.
In the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, we recognized the fact that both Beijing and Taipei viewed Taiwan as part of China but unequivocally expressed our support for a peaceful settlement of the unification issue. While we should not alter the fundamental pillars of our policy, we should consider certain steps that will raise Taiwan's international standing.1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 181:
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Star Trek is one of the pillars of modern entertainment.2016, Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea, spoken by CJ (Christian Mallen):
Etymology From Middle English piler, from Old French pilier, from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin *pilāre (“a pillar”), from Latin pila (“a pillar, pier, mole”).
1
To provide with pillars or added strength as if from pillars.
Insufficient penetration, or faulty distribution of the blast, may give rise to "pillaring" — that is, the formation of a pillar or column of cold material extending up through the middle of the hearth1910, James Morgan, Blast furnace practice:
We discovered this new class of compounds in our search for a means of generating porosity by pillaring layered double hydroxides1996, National Academy of Engineering, First annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering, page 25:
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In the pillaring-grafting reaction the dimensionality increases by pillaring the organic or precursory polynuclear metal hydroxyl cations into an inorganic layer structured matrix.1998, Zhong Lin Wang with Zhen Chuan Kang, Functional and smart materials, page 226:
It was then that scientists started to create porosity in the interlayer space of layered clays. developing the first pillared clays with pores in the larger microporous region.2004, Scott M. Auerbach with Kathleen A. Carrado and Prabir K. Dutta, Handbook of layered materials, page 261: