Definition of "pylon" [py•lon]

• A steel tower supporting high-tension wires. (noun)
• A tower marking a turning point in a race among aircraft. (noun)
• A large structure or group of structures marking an entrance or approach. (noun)
• A monumental gateway in the form of a pair of truncated pyramids serving as the entrance to an ancient Egyptian temple. (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.

• "The first pylon is quite near the entrance and the arcane elementals stand in a circle around it."
• "The pylon is there still, a partial ruin; but the Temple, with its roof, its staircases, and its secret treasure-crypts, is in all essential respects as perfect as on the day when its splendour was given over to the spoilers."
• "For those of you unfamiliar with the term "pylon," for our purposes today, a pylon is a self-contained package of six cruise missiles that can be quickly mounted to the wing of a B-52."