# pedestal
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French piédestal, itself borrowed from Italian piedistallo (literally “foot stand”). Spelling influenced by Latin pēs, pedem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɛdɪstəl/, (by conflation with stool) /ˈpɛdɪsˌtuːl/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

pedestal (plural pedestals)
* (architecture) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp.
* (figuratively) A place of reverence or honor.
    He has put his mother on a pedestal. You can't say a word against her.
** 2019 October 2, Lauren Frayer, “Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, But His Attitudes On Race And Sex Are Under Scrutiny”, in NPR‎:But India is also where the Mahatma may have fallen furthest from the pedestal.
* (rail transport) A casting secured to the frame of a truck of a railcar and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
* (machining) A pillow block; a low housing.
* (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.
* (steam heating) a pedestal coil, group of connected straight pipes arranged side by side and one above another, used in a radiator.
* (telecommunications) A ground-level housing for a passive connection point for underground cables.
* (electronics) The measured value when no input signal is given.
* (aviation) The central part of the cockpit, between the pilots, where various controls are located.
* 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
### Verb

pedestal (third-person singular simple present pedestals, present participle pedestaling or pedestalling, simple past and past participle pedestaled or pedestalled)
* 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.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “pedestal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “pedestal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* depetals, pleadest, step deal, telepads

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian piedestallo.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [pə.ðəsˈtal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [pe.ðesˈtal]

### Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestals)
* (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
* (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: /pe.desˈtaw/ [pe.desˈtaʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /pe.desˈtaw/ [pe.desˈtaʊ̯]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /pe.deʃˈtaw/ [pe.deʃˈtaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɨ.dɨʃˈtal/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈtaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɨ.dɨʃˈtal/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈtaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /pɨ.dɨʃˈta.li/ [pɨ.ðɨʃˈta.li]
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: pe‧des‧tal

### Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestais)
* (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
* (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

#### Related terms

* pé

## Romanian
### Noun

pedestal n (plural pedestaluri)
* Obsolete form of piedestal.

#### Declension
### References

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

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pedesˈtal/ [pe.ð̞esˈt̪al]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: pe‧des‧tal

### Noun

pedestal m (plural pedestales)
* (architecture) pedestal (the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like)
* (figuratively) pedestal (a place of reverence or honor)

#### Derived terms

* en un pedestal

### Further reading

* “pedestal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10