pedestal

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An architectural support or base, as for a column or statue.
2. n. A support or foundation.
3. n. A position of high regard or adoration.
4. v. To place on or provide with a pedestal.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. That which serves as a foot or support, particularly for a piece of sculpture, a monument, or other work of art. Specifically— In architecture, an insulated base or support for a column, a statue, or a vase. It consists typically of a base or foot, a die or dado, and a surbase, cornice or cap. See also cuts under acroterium, antefix, and dado.
2. n. In machinery, the standards of a pillow-block, holding the brasses in which the shaft turns.
3. n. In a railroad-car, a casting of inverted-U shape bolted to the truck-frame to hold in place the journal-box of the axle, which rises and falls in the pedestal with the collapse and expansion of the springs. (See cut under car-truck.) Called in England an axle-guard or horn-plate.
4. To place on a pedestal; support as a pedestal.
5. n. In bridge-building, that portion of an abutment or pier which furnishes the immediate support for an end of a bridge truss or girder.

Wiktionary

1. n. architecture The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like; the part on which an upright work stands.
2. n. rail transport A casting secured to the frame of a truck of a railcar and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
3. n. machining A pillow block; a low housing.
4. n. An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it rests on a pier.
5. n. a pedestal coil, group of connected straight pipes arranged side by side and one above another, used in a radiator.
6. v. To set or support on (or as if on) a pedestal.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Arch.) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like; the part on which an upright work stands. It consists of three parts, the base, the die or dado, and the cornice or surbase molding. See Illust. of column.
2. n. A short free-standing column or column-like object designed to support a work of art or other object; a column serving the same function as the base of a statue. It may be made of wood, marble, or other suitable material.
3. n. (Furniture) A part of a desk which contains a frame and drawers, stands on the floor, and provides support for the desk surface. There may be zero, one, or two such pedestals in a desk.
4. n. (Railroad Cars) A casting secured to the frame of a truck and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.
5. n. (Mach.) A pillow block; a low housing.
6. n. (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.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a position of great esteem (and supposed superiority)
2. n. a support or foundation
3. n. an architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)