pedestal

English

Pedestal

Etymology

From Middle French piédestal, from Italian piedistallo (pie "foot" di "of" stallo "stand") "footstand".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdɪstəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

pedestal (plural pedestals)

1. (architecture) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp.
2. (figuratively) A place of reverence or honor.

   He has put his mother on a pedestal. You can't say a word against her.

3. (rail transport) A casting secured to the frame of a truck of a railcar and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
4. (machining) A pillow block; a low housing.
5. (bridge building) An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it rests on a pier.
6. (steam heating) a pedestal coil, group of connected straight pipes arranged side by side and one above another, used in a radiator.
7. (telecommunications) A ground-level housing for a passive connection point for underground cables.
8. (electronics) The measured value when no input signal is given.
9. (aviation) The central part of the cockpit, between the pilots, where various controls are located.
10. The tough protuberant pad covering a dromedary's sternum, which, when the camel lies down, causes the abdomen to be slightly above the hot ground.

Derived terms

• pedestal coil
• pedestal computer
• pedestal drill
• pedestal fan
• pedestal server
• pedestal telephone
• place / set / put on a pedestal

 

Translations

the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like

• Afrikaans: voetstuk, pilaarvoet
• Arabic: عَمُود (ʕamūd), حامِل (ar) (ḥāmil), مِنَصَّة (minaṣṣa)
• Armenian: պատվանդան (hy) (patvandan)
• Basque: idulki
• Belarusian: п'едэста́л m (pʺjedestál), пастаме́нт (pastamjént)
• Breton: mas (br) m
• Bulgarian: пиедестал (bg) m (piedestal)
• Catalan: pedestal (ca) m, peana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 台座 (zh) (táizuò), 基座 (zh) (jīzuò), 座子 (zh) (zuòzi)

• Czech: podstavec (cs) m, piedestal m
• Danish: sokkel c
• Dutch: voetstuk (nl) n, sokkel (nl) m
• Esperanto: piedestalo (eo), soklo (eo)
• Finnish: jalusta (fi)
• French: piédestal (fr) m
• Galician: peaña f, pedestal (gl) m
• Georgian: კვარცხლბეკი (ḳvarcxlbeḳi), საყრდენი (saq̇rdeni), ფუძე (puʒe), საფუძველი (sapuʒveli)
• German: Sockel (de) m, Podest (de) n, Piedestal (de) n, Postament (de) n, Stand (de) m, Basis (de) f, Ständer (de) m, Gestell (de) n, Untergestell n, Bock (de) m, Auflagebock m, Auflager (de) n, Trägergerüst n, Standfuß m, Stützbock m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὑπόβαθρα f (hupóbathra), βάθρον n (báthron)

• Hebrew: כַּן (he) m (kan)
• Hungarian: talapzat (hu)
• Ido: piedestalo (io)
• Irish: seastán m
• Italian: piedistallo (it) m
• Japanese: 台座 (ja) (だいざ, daiza)
• Latin: basis (la) f, crepīdō f
• Latvian: pjedestāls m
• Lithuanian: pjedestalas m
• Luxembourgish: Sockel m
• Macedonian: пиедестал m (piedestal)
• Manx: laan
• Norwegian: pidestall m, sokkel (no)
• Occitan: pèdestal m
• Ottoman Turkish: سكی (seki), كرسی (kürsi)
• Persian: پایه (fa) (pâye)
• Polish: piedestał (pl) m, postument (pl) m
• Portuguese: pedestal (pt) m
• Romanian: piedestal (ro) n
• Russian: пьедеста́л (ru) m (pʹjedestál), постаме́нт (ru) m (postamént), цо́коль (ru) m (cókolʹ)
• Slovak: podstavec m, piedestál m
• Slovene: podstávek m
• Spanish: pedestal (es) m, peana (es) f
• Swedish: piedestal (sv) c
• Thai: แท่น (th) (tɛ̂n)
• Turkish: ayaklık (tr), duraç (tr), kaide (tr), taban (tr), oturtak
• Ukrainian: п'єдестал m (pʺjedestal)
• Vietnamese: bệ (vi)

Verb

pedestal (third-person singular simple present pedestals, present participle pedestaling, simple past and past participle pedestaled)

1. To set or support on (or as if on) a pedestal.

References

• Category:pedestals on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “pedestal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “pedestal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pedestal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• depetals, pleadest, step deal, telepads

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian piedestallo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pə.ðəsˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [pe.ðesˈtal]

Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestals)

1. (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
2. (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

Synonyms

• (base of a structure): peanya, repeu

Further reading

• “pedestal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pe.desˈtaw/ [pe.desˈtaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pe.desˈtaw/ [pe.desˈtaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /pe.deʃˈtaw/ [pe.deʃˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨ.dɨʃˈtal/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨ.dɨʃˈtal/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨ.dɨʃˈta.li/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈta.li]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: pe‧des‧tal

Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestais)

1. (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
2. (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

Related terms

• pé

Romanian

Noun

pedestal n (plural pedestaluri)

1. Obsolete form of piedestal.

Declension

Declension of pedestal

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) pedestal	pedestalul	(niște) pedestaluri	pedestalurile
genitive/dative	(unui) pedestal	pedestalului	(unor) pedestaluri	pedestalurilor
vocative	pedestalule		pedestalurilor

References

• pedestal in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pedesˈtal/ [pe.ð̞esˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pe‧des‧tal

Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestales)

1. (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
2. (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

Derived terms

• en un pedestal

 

Further reading

• “pedestal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014