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pedestal

 
(pĕd'ĭ-stəl) pronunciation
n.
  1. An architectural support or base, as for a column or statue.
  2. A support or foundation.
  3. A position of high regard or adoration.
tr.v., -taled, or -talled, -tal·ing, or -tal·ling, -tals, or -tals.
To place on or provide with a pedestal.

[Obsolete French, from Italian piedestallo : piè, foot (from Latin pēs; see pedi-) + di, of (from Latin ; see de-) + stallo, stall (of Germanic origin).]


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In Classical architecture, a support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. It may be square, octagonal, or circular. A single pedestal may also support a group of columns, or colonnade (see podium). The pedestal, which was first employed by Roman architects, consists (from bottom to top) of three parts: the plinth, the dado (or die), and the cornice (or cap).

For more information on pedestal, visit Britannica.com.


1. A support for a column, statue, urn, etc., consisting in classical architecture of a base, dado, or die and a cornice, surbase, or cap; in modern design often a plain unornamented block.
2. An upright compression member the height of which does not exceed three times its least lateral dimension.

pedestal



[Co]

1. A free-standing raised plinth or bollard.

2. In pottery making it is a raised section in the bottom of a kiln chamber either to support a raised oven floor or (in single-chambered kilns) to aid the stacking of the pottery and the circulation of hot air around it.

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pedestal

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A base or support as for a column, statue, or vase.

pronunciation A pedestal is as much a prison as any small space. — Gloria Steinem

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Something on a pedestal is something to be admired, even worshiped. A dream about being on a pedestal can represent either a feeling that someone else admires us or a desire to be admired. We also sometimes talk about "knocking someone off their pedestal."


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categories related to 'pedestal'

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For a list of words related to pedestal, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Pedestal.
A statue of Henry IV of France on a pedestal

Pedestal (from French piedestal, Italian piedistallo, foot of a stall) is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase.

Although in Syria, Asia Minor and Tunisia the Romans occasionally raised the columns of their temples or propylaea on square pedestals, in Rome itself they were employed only to give greater importance to isolated columns, such as those of Trajan and Antoninus, or as a podium to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.

The architects of the Italian revival, however, conceived the idea that no order was complete without a pedestal, and as the orders were by them employed to divide up and decorate a building in several stories, the cornice of the pedestal was carried through and formed the sills of their windows, or, in open arcades, round a court, the balustrade of the arcade. They also would seem to have considered that the height of the pedestal should correspond in its proportion with that of the column or pilaster it supported; thus in the church of Saint John Lateran, where the applied order is of considerable dimensions, the pedestal is 13 feet (4.0 m) high instead of the ordinary height of 3 to 5 feet (1.5 m).

In the imperial China, a stone tortoise called bixi was traditionally used as the pedestal for important stele, especially those associated with emperors.[1] According to the 1396 version of the regulations issued by the Ming Dynasty founder, the Hongwu Emperor, the highest nobility (those of the gong and hou ranks) and the officials of the top 3 ranks were eligible for bixi-based funerary tablets, while lower-level mandarins' steles were to stand on simple rectangular pedestals.[2]

Types of pedestals

An elevated pedestal or plinth which bears a statue and which is raised from the substructure supporting it (typically roofs or corniches) is sometimes called an acropodium. The term is from the Greek akros or topmost + podos or foot. Often misheard "pedal stool".

Culture influences

When a person overly idealizes someone (or something), it is often referred to as "putting them on a pedestal".

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Stele on the Back of Stone Tortoise (an overview of the Bixi tradition)
  2. ^ de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892), The Religious System of China, II, Brill Archive, pp. 451–452, http://www.archive.org/stream/religioussystem01groogoog#page/n105/mode/1up .

References


Translations:

Pedestal

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - sokkel, piedestal
v. tr. - sætte på en piedestal

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    sætte på en piedestal

Nederlands (Dutch)
voetstuk, poot/steun (bureau/wastafel etc.), basis, op een voetstuk zetten

Français (French)
n. - socle, piédestal, colonne
v. tr. - mettre sur un piédestal, munir d'un piédestal

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    mettre sur un piédestal

Deutsch (German)
n. - Sockel
v. - auf ein Postament stellen

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    in den Himmel heben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - βάθρο, βάση

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    ειδωλοποιώ, ηρωοποιώ ή θεοποιώ κάποιον

Italiano (Italian)
piedistallo

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    mettere su un piedistallo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pedestal (m), base (f)

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    colocar sobre um pedestal, ter em alto conceito, colocar em lugar de honra

Русский (Russian)
пьедестал

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    вознести на пьедестал

Español (Spanish)
n. - pedestal
v. tr. - colocar sobre un pedestal

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    poner a alguien en un pedestal o por las nubes

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - piedestal, sockel, hurts

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
基架, 基础, 座, 加座, 支持, 搁在台上

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    崇拜

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 基架, 基礎, 座
v. tr. - 加座, 支援, 擱在臺上

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    崇拜

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (흉상 등의) 대, 받침대, 기초
v. tr. - 대좌에 올려 놓다., 받들다

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    연장자로서 존경하다.

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 台, 台座, そで

idioms:

  • put on a pedestal    尊敬する, 崇める

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قاعدة العمود أو التمثال, أساس,‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מעמד, כן, בסיס, קורת תמיכה אנכית במכונה, חלק תחתון מכיל מגירות של שולחן-כתיבה‬
v. tr. - ‮השעין על כן‬


 
 
Related topics:
bulb pile
solidum
pedestal boulder (geology)

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American Heritage Dictionary. 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.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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