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PIER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pier" is a kind of...):
platform (a raised horizontal surface)
Meronyms (parts of "pier"):
bitt; bollard (a strong post (as on a wharf or quay or ship for attaching mooring lines))
shipside (the part of a wharf that is next to a ship)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pier"):
levee (a pier that provides a landing place on a river)
quay (wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A support for two adjacent bridge spans
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pier" is a kind of...):
support (any device that bears the weight of another thing)
Holonyms ("pier" is a part of...):
bridge; span (a structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle such as a river or canal or railway etc.)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(architecture) a vertical supporting structure (as a portion of wall between two doors or windows)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pier" is a kind of...):
support (any device that bears the weight of another thing)
Domain category:
architecture (the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings)
Holonyms ("pier" is a part of...):
wall (an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure)
Context examples:
The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, mirabile dictu, between the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and gained the safety of the harbour.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier of Whitby Harbour.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the piers.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the great harmony of nature's silence.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
