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piers

 [peer]   Origin

pier

   [peer]
noun
1.
a structure built on posts extending from land out over water, used as a landing place for ships, an entertainment area, a strolling place, etc.; jetty.
2.
(in a bridge or the like) a support for the ends of adjacent spans.
3.
a square pillar.
4.
a portion of wall between doors, windows, etc.
5.
a pillar or post on which a gate or door is hung.
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6.
a support of masonry, steel, or the like for sustaining vertical pressure.
7.
a long passageway or corridor that extends from a central area of a building, especially one at an airport that leads to boarding gates.
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Origin:
before 1150; Middle English pere, earlier (perhaps late Old English ) per < Anglo-Latin pera, pēra pier of a bridge

Related forms
un·der·pier, noun

Can be confused: dock, harbor, pier, wharf (see synonym note at harbor).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Piers is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pier
c.1150, "support of a span of a bridge," from M.L. pera, of unknown origin, perhaps from O.N.Fr. pire "a breakwater," from V.L. *petricus, from L. petra "rock." Meaning "solid structure in a harbor, used as a landing place for vessels," is attested from 1453.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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"I used to worship the mighty genius of Michael Angelo—that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture—great in every thing he undertook. But I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast—for luncheon—for dinner—for tea—for supper—for between meals. I like a change, occasionally. In Genoa, he designed every thing; in Milan he or his pupils designed every thing; he designed the Lake of Como; in Padua, Verona, Venice, Bologna, who did we ever hear of, from guides, but Michael Angelo? In Florence, he painted every thing, designed every thing, nearly, and what he didn't design he used to sit on a favorite stone and look at, and they showed us the stone. In Pisa he designed everything but the old shot-tower, and they would have attributed that to him if it had not been so awfully out of the perpendicular. He designed the piers of Leghorn and the custom house regulations of Civita Vecchia. But, here—here it is frightful. He designed St. Peter's; he designed the Pope; he designed the Pantheon, the uniform of the Pope's soldiers, the Tiber, the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Capitol, the Tarpeian Rock, the Barberini Palace, St. John Lateran, the Campagna, the Appian Way, the Seven Hills, the Baths of Caracalla, the Claudian Aqueduct, the Cloaca Maxima—the eternal bore designed the Eternal City, and unless all men and books do lie, he painted every thing in it!... I never felt so fervently thankful, so soothed, so tranquil, so filled with a blessed peace, as I did yesterday when I learned that Michael Angelo was dead."
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