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pyramids

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pyr⋅a⋅mid

  [pir-uh-mid]
Use pyramids in a Sentence
–noun
1. Architecture.
a. (in ancient Egypt) a quadrilateral masonry mass having smooth, steeply sloping sides meeting at an apex, used as a tomb.
b. (in ancient Egypt and pre-Columbian Central America) a quadrilateral masonry mass, stepped and sharply sloping, used as a tomb or a platform for a temple.
2. anything of such form.
3. a number of persons or things arranged or heaped up in this manner: a pyramid of acrobats; a pyramid of boxes.
4. a system or structure resembling a pyramid, as in hierarchical form.
5. Geometry. a solid having a polygonal base, and triangular sides that meet in a point.
6. Crystallography. any form the planes of which intersect all three of the axes.
7. Anatomy, Zoology. any of various parts or structures of pyramidal form.
8. Also called pyramid scheme. a scheme that pyramids, as in speculating on the stock exchange or writing a chain letter.
9. a tree pruned or trained to grow in conical form.
10. pyramids, (used with a singular verb) British. a form of pocket billiards for two or four players in which 15 colored balls, initially placed in the form of a triangle, are pocketed with one white cue ball.
–verb (used without object)
11. to take, or become disposed in, the form of a pyramid.
12. Stock Exchange. (in speculating on margin) to enlarge one's operations in a series of transactions, as on a continued rise or decline in price, by using profits in transactions not yet closed, and consequently not yet in hand, as margin for additional buying or selling in the next transaction.
13. to increase gradually, as with the completion of each phase: Our problems are beginning to pyramid.
–verb (used with object)
14. to arrange in the form of a pyramid.
15. to raise or increase (costs, wages, etc.) by adding amounts gradually.
16. to cause to increase at a steady and progressive rate: New overseas markets have pyramided the company's profits.
17. Stock Exchange. (in speculating on margin) to operate in, or employ in, pyramiding.
Origin:
1350–1400; < L pȳramid- (s. of pȳramis) < Gk pȳramís; r. ME pyramis < L, as above

Related forms:
pyr⋅a⋅mid⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pyr·a·mid   (pĭr'ə-mĭd)   
n.  

    1. A solid figure with a polygonal base and triangular faces that meet at a common point.

    2. Something shaped like this polyhedron.

    3. A massive monument of ancient Egypt having a rectangular base and four triangular faces culminating in a single apex, built over or around a crypt or tomb.

    4. Any of various similar constructions, especially a four-sided Mesoamerican temple having stepped sides and a flat top surmounted by chambers.

    1. A massive monument of ancient Egypt having a rectangular base and four triangular faces culminating in a single apex, built over or around a crypt or tomb.

    2. Any of various similar constructions, especially a four-sided Mesoamerican temple having stepped sides and a flat top surmounted by chambers.

  3. The transactions involved in pyramiding stock.

  4. Anatomy A structure or part suggestive of a pyramid in shape.

v.   pyr·a·mid·ed, pyr·a·mid·ing, pyr·a·mids

v.   tr.

  1. To place or build in the shape of a pyramid.

  2. To build (an argument or thesis, for example) progressively from a basic general premise.

  3. To speculate in (stock) by making a series of buying and selling transactions in which paper profits are used as margin for buying more stock.

v.   intr.

  1. To assume the shape of a pyramid.

  2. To increase rapidly and on a widening base.

  3. To pyramid stocks.


[Latin pȳramis, pȳramid-, from Greek pūramis, probably of Egyptian origin.]
py·ram'i·dal (pĭ-rām'ĭ-dl), pyr'a·mid'ic (-mĭd'ĭk), pyr'a·mid'i·cal (-ĭ-kəl) adj., py·ram'i·dal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

pyramids

A group of huge monuments in the desert of Egypt, built as burial vaults for ancient Egyptian kings. The age of pyramid building in Egypt began about 2700 b.c. (See under “World History to 1550.”)


pyramids

A group of huge monuments in the Egyptian desert, built as burial vaults for the pharaohs and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The pyramids have square bases and four triangular faces. Pyramid building began in Egypt about 2700 b.c. and required vast amounts of slave labor.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

pyramid 
1552 (earlier in L. form piramis, 1398), from Fr. pyramide (O.Fr. piramide, 12c.), from L. pyramides, pl. of pyramis "one of the pyramids of Egypt," from Gk. pyramis (pl. pyramides), apparently an alteration of Egyptian pimar "pyramid."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

pyramid

To use profits derived from a profitable security position in combination with borrowed money in order to acquire an even larger investment position. Pyramiding, which is very risky, allows an investor the possibility of greater profits by using a given amount of funds to control the maximum amount of securities.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: pyramid
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or being an illegal scheme in which participants give money or other valuables in exchange for the opportunity to receive payment for recruiting others to participate in the scheme
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: pyr·a·mid
Pronunciation: 'pir-&-"mid
Function: noun
1 : a polyhedron having for its base a polygon and for facestriangles with a common vertex
2 : an anatomical structure resembling a pyramid: as a : RENALPYRAMID b : either of two large bundles of motor fibers from the cerebral cortex that reach the medulla oblongata and are continuous with the corticospinal tracts of thespinal cord c : a conical projection making up the central part of the inferior vermis of the cerebellum
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

pyramid pyr·a·mid (pĭr'ə-mĭd)
n.

  1. A solid figure with a polygonal base and triangular faces that meet at a common point.

  2. A structure or part shaped like a pyramid.

py·ram'i·dal (pĭ-rām'ĭ-dl) adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Encyclopedia

pyramids

British pocket-billiards game in which 15 red balls are arranged in a pyramid formation to begin. Players use a white cue ball in attempting to pocket the reds, scoring one point for each; the player who scores the highest number of pocketed balls is the winner. Players lose a point and respot a red ball each time they pocket the cue ball or fail to contact a red ball. A player shoots until he fails to pocket a ball, and an opponent then continues play from the point at which the cue ball comes to rest. Pyramids was a forerunner of the game snooker.

Learn more about pyramids with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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