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Comment by Richard Roman on July 1, 2013 at 22:01

And here is the answer......

The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal.[1] The pillory is related to the stocks.[2]
The word is documented in English since 1274 (attested in Anglo-Latin from c. 1189), and stems from Old French pellori (1168; modern French pilori, see below), itself from medieval Latin pilloria, of uncertain origin, perhaps a diminutive of Latin pila "pillar, stone barrier."[3]

While the pillory has left common use, the image remains preserved in the figurative use, which has become the dominant one, of the verb "to pillory" (attested in English since 1600),[citation needed] meaning "to expose to public ridicule, scorn and abuse", or more generally to humiliate before witnesses.
Corresponding expressions exist in other languages, e.g., clouer au pilori "to nail to the pillory" in French, or mettere alla gogna in Italian, or poner en la picota in Spanish. In Dutch it's aan de schandpaal nagelen, placing even greater emphasis on the predominantly humiliating character as the Dutch word for pillory, schandpaal, literally meaning "pole of shame".

Comment by Richard Roman on July 1, 2013 at 21:53

To get things going, I recently came across the word PILLORY What does it mean and where did it come from?

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