n.
- A solid figure with a polygonal base and triangular faces that meet at a common point.
- Something shaped like this polyhedron.
- A massive monument of ancient Egypt having a rectangular base and four triangular faces culminating in a single apex, built over or around a crypt or tomb.
- Any of various similar constructions, especially a four-sided Mesoamerican temple having stepped sides and a flat top surmounted by chambers.
- The transactions involved in pyramiding stock.
- Anatomy. A structure or part suggestive of a pyramid in shape.
v., -mid·ed, -mid·ing, -mids. v.tr.
- To place or build in the shape of a pyramid.
- To build (an argument or thesis, for example) progressively from a basic general premise.
- To speculate in (stock) by making a series of buying and selling transactions in which paper profits are used as margin for buying more stock.
- To assume the shape of a pyramid.
- To increase rapidly and on a widening base.
- To pyramid stocks.
[Latin pȳramis, pȳramid-, from Greek pūramis, probably of Egyptian origin.]
pyramidal py·ram'i·dal (pĭ-răm'ĭ-dl) or pyr'a·mid'ic (-mĭd'ĭk) or pyr'a·mid'i·cal (-ĭ-kəl) adj.pyramidally py·ram'i·dal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
