Pike"staff` (?), n. 1. The staff, or shaft, of a pike.
2. A staff with a spike in the lower end, to guard against slipping.
Sir W. Scott.
Pike"tail` (?), n. (Zoˆl.) See Pintail, 1.
Pik"ro*lite (?), n. (Min.) See Picrolite.
Pi"lage (?), n. See Pelage.
Pi*las"ter (?), n. [F. pilastre, It. pilastro, LL. pilastrum, fr. L.
pila a pillar. See Pillar.] (Arch.) An upright architectural member
right-angled in plan, constructionally a pier (See Pier, 1 (b)), but
architecturally corresponding to a column, having capital, shaft, and
base to agree with those of the columns of the same order. In most
cases the projection from the wall is one third of its width, or less.
Pi*las"tered (?), a. Furnished with pilasters.
||Pi*lau" (?), n. See Pillau.
Pilch (?), n. [AS. pylce, pylece, LL. pellicia. See Pelisse, and Pelt
skin.] A gown or case of skin, or one trimmed or lined with fur. [Obs.]
Pil"chard (?), n. [Cf. It. pilseir, W. pilcod minnows.] (Zoˆl.) A small
European food fish (Clupea pilchardus) resembling the herring, but
thicker and rounder. It is sometimes taken in great numbers on the
coast of England.
Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings.
Shak.
Pilch"er (?), n. [From Pilch.] A scabbard, as of a sword. [Obs.] Shak.
Pilch"er, n. (Zoˆl.) The pilchard.
Pil"crow (?), n. [A corruption of Paragraph.] (Print.) a paragraph
mark, ∂. [Obs.] Tusser.
Pile (?), n. [L. pilus hair. Cf. Peruke.] 1. A hair; hence, the fiber
of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of
carpeting and velvet.
Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.
Cowper.