Noun: pillory
| Singular | pillory |
| Plural | pillories |
Sample Sentences
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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[...] (Mayors and mace-bearers, the means are between / The king and the commons to see the law kept, / To punish on pillories and punishment stools / Brewers and bakers, butchers and cooks, / For these are this world's men that work the most harm / To the poor people that must buy piece-meal.) [[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:]
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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:]
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[…]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]:]
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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:]
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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:]
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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:]
Nouns inflected like pillory
clitoridectomy,
royal jelly,
whoopsy,
surrogacy,
urinary,
rastrography,
renoscopy,
sourtop blueberry,
forcible entry,
superficiary,
lipidosity,
potability,
phonography,
hyperproperty,
greenery,
conjugality,
ring singularity,
Brittany,
ignobility,
obscurity, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English pilory, pillorie, from Old French pilori, pellori, which is either from Old Occitan espilori or Latin pīla (“pillar”). See: Latin Nouns '
pīla'.