Definition of "pilaster" []

• A rectangular column with a capital and base, projecting only slightly from a wall as an ornamental motif. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "An anta may be described as a pilaster forming the termination of a wall."
• "Her husband had died when a pilaster of brick and smokey plaster came down on him like a wave."
• "An architect's flawless ink-wash rendering of a fluted pilaster surmounted by a capital of the Composite order is, necessarily, an abstraction."