Etymology From Middle English pilory, pillorie, from Old French pilori, pellori, which is either from Old Occitan espilori or Latin pīla (“pillar”).
1
Historical A framework on a post, with holes for the hands and head, used as a means of punishment and humiliation.
Maires and Maceris that meanes be betwene / The Kynge and the comon to kepe the lawes / To pũnyſhen on pyleries and pynning ſtoles / Bruſterrs and bakeſters, bochers and cokes / For theſe ar mẽ on this mold þᵉ moſt harme worketh / To the pore people that percel mele byghe[...][c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “[Passus 3]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (Cr, B-text) (in Middle English), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC, folio xiii, verso:
Cros·! þou dost no trouþe ; / On a pillori· my fruit to pinne, / He haþ no spot· of Adam sinne ; / Flesch· and veines· nou fleo a-twinne, / Wherfore I· rede of routhe·:[c. 1400, “Dispute between Mary and the Cross”, in Richard Morris, editor, Legends of the Holy Rood: Symbols of the Passions and Cross Poems, stanza I, page 131:
4 more examples
[…]I haue stood on the Pillorie for Geese he hath kil'd, […]c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
The other replied, That for ought they could ſee, the men were quiet, and ſober, and intended no body any harm ; and that there were many that Traded in their fair, that were more worthy to be put into the Cage, yea, and the Pillory too, then were the men that they had abuſed.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 126:
To ensure good behavior, the slaveholder relies on the whip; […] to imbrute and destroy his manhood, he relies on the whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, the pillory, the bowie-knife, the pistol, and the blood-hound.1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part II (Life as a Freeman), page 430:
It was famous, too, for the pillory, a wise old institution, that inflicted a punishment of which no one could foresee the extent; also, for the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action; […].1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book II (The Golden Thread), page 38:
Etymology From Middle English pilory, pillorie, from Old French pilori, pellori, which is either from Old Occitan espilori or Latin pīla (“pillar”).
1
To put in a pillory.
2
Figuratively To subject to humiliation, scorn, ridicule or abuse.
There was no malice in my rubbish; but it laughed at the captain. It laughed at a man to whom such a thing was new and strange and dreadful. I did not know then, though I do now, that there is no suffering comparable with that which a private person feels when he is for the first time pilloried in print.1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 50, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:
Mike Sarne would end up making a celluloid disasterpiece that is to this day pilloried as one of the worst films ever made.2008, Steven Daly, “Swinging into Disaster”, in Graydon Carter, editor, Vanity Fair’s Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films, Penguin, →ISBN, page 242:
3
To criticize harshly.
The breakthrough came through Torres who, pilloried for his miss against Manchester United a week earlier, scored his second goal of the season.2011 September 24, Aled Williams, “Chelsea 4 - 1 Swansea”, in BBC Sport:
[T]o suggest that their mere acquaintance in any way undermines Pinker’s work would be to make the kind of ad hominem fallacy that he rightfully pillories in this book.2021 September 29, Jennifer Szalai, “In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress”, in The New York Times, →ISSN: