pilot
A person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
Adjective
- Made or used as a test or demonstration of capability.
- a pilot run of the new factory
- The pilot plant showed the need for major process changes.
- Used to control or activate another device.
- a pilot light
- Being a vehicle to warn other road users of the presence of an oversize vehicle or combination.
- a pilot vehicle
Origin
From Middle French pilot, pillot, from Italian pilota, piloto, older also pedotta, pedot(t)o (the form in pil- is probably influenced by pileggiare (“to sail, navigate”)); ultimately from unattested Byzantine Greek *πηδώτης (*pēdṓtēs, “helmsman”), from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdón, “blade of an oar, oar”), hence also Ancient and Modern Greek πηδάλιον (pēdálion, “rudder”).
Forms
Noun
- A person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
- They scud before the wind, and sail in open sea. Ahead of all the master pilot steers; And, as he leads, the following navy veers. - 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of...
- A person who knows well the depths, shoals, and currents of a harbor or coastal area, who is hired by a vessel to help navigate the harbor or coast.
- A guide book for maritime navigation.
- An instrument for detecting the compass error.
- A pilot vehicle.
- A person authorised to drive such a vehicle during an escort.
- A guide or escort through an unknown or dangerous area.
- So we mounted our horses, and put out for that town, under the direction of two friendly Creeks we had taken for pilots. - 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, E. L. Cary and A. Hart, page 43
- Something serving as a test or trial.
- We would like to run a pilot in your facility before rolling out the program citywide.
- “I agreed with my husband when he said that to do the business properly we must do a pilot first.” - 2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 40:
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(mining) The heading or excavation of relatively small dimensions, first made in the driving of a larger tunnel.
- A tone or signal, usually a single frequency, transmitted over a communications system for control or synchronization purposes.
- A person who is in charge of the controls of an aircraft.
- A sample episode of a proposed TV series produced to decide if it should be made or not. If approved, typically the first episode of an actual TV series.
- I think her biggest deal was she starred in a pilot.[…]Well, the way they pick TV shows is they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that one show to the people who pick shows, and on the strength...
- A cowcatcher.
Forms
Derived
automatic pilot autopilot back-door pilot backdoor pilot branch pilot bush pilot busted pilot charter pilot cock pilot co-pilot copilot cow-pilot desk pilot drop the pilot fighter pilot hangar pilot helipilot longfin pilot whale nonpilot paraglider pilot pilotage pilot balloon pilot beam pilotbird
Verb
- To control (an aircraft or watercraft).
- I have visited more than half a dozen carrier training facilities, spent over 150 hours on jumpseats, piloted a Lockheed 1011 from MIA to LAX, visited numerous towers, rapcons, and centers, and discussed our commercial...
- To guide (a vessel) through coastal waters.
- To test or have a preliminary trial of (an idea, a new product, television show, etc.)
- To serve as the leading locomotive on a double-headed train.
- One of the Midland Lines' Birmingham R.C.W. Type 2 diesels, No. D5403, made the debut of its class in the Manchester area on July 28 when it appeared in the early hours on freight; after four days in the area it left...
- To guide or conduct (a person) somewhere.
- Thus it came about that, three days later, I descended from the train at Styles St. Mary, an absurd little station, with no apparent reason for existence, perched up in the midst of green fields and country lanes. John...