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From pillar to post   /frəm pˈɪlər tu poʊst/   Listen
noun
Pillar  n.  
1.
The general and popular term for a firm, upright, insulated support for a superstructure; a pier, column, or post; also, a column or shaft not supporting a superstructure, as one erected for a monument or an ornament. "Jacob set a pillar upon her grave." "The place... vast and proud, Supported by a hundred pillars stood."
2.
Figuratively, that which resembles such a pillar in appearance, character, or office; a supporter or mainstay; as, the Pillars of Hercules; a pillar of the state. "You are a well-deserving pillar." "By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire."
3.
(R. C. Ch.) A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church. (Obs.)
4.
(Man.) The center of the volta, ring, or manege ground, around which a horse turns.
From pillar to post, hither and thither; to and fro; from one place or predicament to another; backward and forward. (Colloq.)
Pillar saint. See Stylite.
Pillars of the fauces. See Fauces, 1.


Post  n.  
1.
A piece of timber, metal, or other solid substance, fixed, or to be fixed, firmly in an upright position, especially when intended as a stay or support to something else; a pillar; as, a hitching post; a fence post; the posts of a house. "They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses." "Then by main force pulled up, and on his shoulders bore, The gates of Azza, post and massy bar." "Unto his order he was a noble post." Note: Post, in the sense of an upright timber or strut, is used in composition, in such words as king-post, queen-post, crown-post, gatepost, etc.
2.
The doorpost of a victualer's shop or inn, on which were chalked the scores of customers; hence, a score; a debt. (Obs.) "When God sends coin I will discharge your post."
From pillar to post. See under Pillar.
Knight of the post. See under Knight.
Post hanger (Mach.), a bearing for a revolving shaft, adapted to be fastened to a post.
Post hole, a hole in the ground to set the foot of a post in.
Post mill, a form of windmill so constructed that the whole fabric rests on a vertical axis firmly fastened to the ground, and capable of being turned as the direction of the wind varies.
Post and stall (Coal Mining), a mode of working in which pillars of coal are left to support the roof of the mine.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"From pillar to post" Quotes from Famous Books



... was so badgered and worried and tortured by being knocked about from post to pillar, and from pillar to post," said Mr. George, "that he got out of sorts. I don't believe he had any idea of taking aim at anybody, but he was in that condition of resentment and violence that he would come and pay for fifty shots and fire away till he was red hot. One day I said to him when there was nobody by and ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens
... underlying reality alone: for you it's everything; your existence would have no meaning for you without it. You want nothing but that, and you get it; but since you've taken to reading novels you are ashamed of it: you rush from pillar to post, you recklessly change your men, and to justify this turmoil you have begun talking of the evils of marriage. So long as you can't and won't renounce what underlies it all, your chief foe, your devil —so long as you serve that slavishly, what use is there in discussing the matter seriously? Everything ...
— The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov
... be jimmied apart. Ross opened the second round by knockin' Scanlan through the ropes into the ten-dollar boxes, but the Kid was back and in there tryin' again before the referee could find the body to start a count. After beatin' the champ from pillar to post and hittin' him with everything but the bucket, the Kid rocks him to sleep with a left swing to the jaw, ...
— Kid Scanlan • H. C. Witwer
... he needed money badly, but that he could get no house in America to entertain the idea of purchasing five millions of bonds of his company although they were to be guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The old gentleman felt sure that he was being driven from pillar to post by the bankers because they had agreed among themselves to purchase the bonds only upon their own terms. He asked ninety cents on the dollar for them, but this the bankers considered preposterously high. Those were the days when Western railway bonds were often sold to ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie • Andrew Carnegie
... me, "that melodramatic things have happened to me and those near me. I'm not even sure that poor Richard's death was natural, though I watched over him like a hawk in those dreadful days when he was fearing every shadow, and we were flitting from pillar to post, with Esme. Through Richard two men were electrocuted. He used to get threatening letters forwarded from place to place, always signed with the same initials, and he wouldn't tell me what they meant. ...
— It Happened in Egypt • C. N. Williamson & A. M. Williamson


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