- pedestal
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/ped"euh stl/, n., v., pedestaled, pedestaling or (esp. Brit.) pedestalled, pedestalling.n.1. an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like. See diag. under column.2. a supporting structure or piece; base.3. Furniture.a. a support for a desk, consisting of a boxlike frame containing drawers one above the other.b. a columnar support for a tabletop.4. Building Trades. a bulge cast at the bottom of a concrete pile.5. set or put on a pedestal, to glorify; idealize: When we first became engaged each of us set the other on a pedestal.v.t.6. to put on or supply with a pedestal.[1555-65; alter. of MF piedestal < It piedestallo, var. of PIEDISTALLO lit., foot of stall. See PED-2, DE, STALL1]
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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).* * *
in Classical architecture, support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. Such a pedestal may be square, octagonal, or circular. The name is also given to the vertical members that divide the sections of a balustrade. A single pedestal may also support a group of columns, or colonnade. A pedestal is divided into three parts, from bottom to top: the plinth (or foot), the die (or dado), and the cornice (cap, cap mold, or surbase).The pedestal was first employed by the architects of ancient Rome to make a single column look more imposing; it was also featured in triumphal arches. In Renaissance Italy, architectural theorists decreed that the pedestal was an integral part of the order (see order) of the column and entablature and inseparable from it. At the same time, specific rules were established concerning the proportional height of pedestal to column: the higher the column is, the higher the pedestal must be.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
