See Also: pilot(1)(dictionary)
pilot(2)(dictionary)
Pilot(money)
co-pilot(dictionary)
pilot(medicine)
pilot 1, noun(dictionary)
pilot 2, verb(dictionary)
pilot light(dictionary)
automatic pilot(dictionary)
pilot officer(dictionary)

pilot(1) (iou)



pilot noun. E16.
[French pilote from medieval Latin pilotus var. of pedo(t)ta, from Greek pedon oar, pl. rudder: see -OT2.]
a. A person who steers a ship; esp. a qualified coastal navigator taken on board at a particular place to steer a ship into or out of a port, or through a channel etc. E16.
drop the pilot fig. abandon a trustworthy adviser.
Defoe Like a ship without a pilot, that could only run before the wind. I. McEwan A quick exchange of shouts between..pilot and..crew, and the boat moved on.
b. (Also Pilot.) A navigational handbook for use at sea. L17.
Practical Boat Owner Every abnormal wave documented in the pilot.
c. A person who operates the flying controls of an aircraft, balloon, spacecraft, etc., esp. a person qualified to do this as a profession. See also automatic pilot s.v. AUTOMATIC adjective. M19.
test pilot: see TEST noun1.
S. Bellow The pilot announced that we had reached our cruising altitude. Air Enthusiast Impossible for pilots to fly the 20 hours per month stipulated by NATO.
d. A jockey. L20.
transf. A leader or guide, esp. through an unknown area of land; a scout; spec. the leader of a pack of hounds. L16.
I. L. Idriess He needed a pilot to show him the waterholes.
b. In full pilot engine. A locomotive coupled in front of another at the head of a train. M19.
In full pilot-fish. A small carangid fish of warm seas, Naucrates ductor, which frequently accompanies sharks, turtles, etc., and has dark vertical bars along the sides; any of various other fishes which accompany sharks, boats, etc. M17.
b. More fully pilot snake. The northern race of the copperhead snake. L18.
= cow-catcher s.v. COW noun1. US. M19.
In full pilot wire, pilot cable. An auxiliary wire or cable for conveying information about an associated power line etc. or for operating apparatus connected with one. L19.
An experimental undertaking carried out prior to some full-scale project or activity; esp. a test episode of a television series used to assess audience reaction etc. Freq. attrib. E20.
pilot episode, pilot film, pilot plant, pilot programme, pilot project, pilot scheme, pilot study, etc.
Nature It could be the pilot for future investments..in industrial research. TV Times The second pilot to an unrealised series.
Telecommunications. An unmodulated reference signal transmitted with another signal for purposes of control or synchronization. Freq. attrib., as pilot carrier, pilot tone, etc. M20.
Comb.: pilot balloon a small balloon used to track air currents etc.; pilot-bird (a) (now rare) any of various sea birds which accompany ships; (b) a small Australian warbler, Pycnoptilus floccosus, of the family Acanthizidae; pilot biscuit US hard tack; pilot-boat a boat used by a pilot to meet an incoming ship etc.; pilot-bread = pilot biscuit above; pilot burner US = pilot light (a) below; pilot cable: see sense 5 above; pilot carrier: see sense 7 above; pilot chute a small parachute used to bring a main one into operation; pilot-cloth thick blue woollen cloth for seamen's coats etc.; pilot-coat = PEA-JACKET; pilot driver an engine-driver who accompanies another over a route with which the latter is unfamiliar; pilot engine: see sense 2b above; pilot-fish: see sense 3 above; pilot-flame = pilot-light (a) below; pilot hole a small hole drilled ahead of a full-sized hole as a guide; pilot-house (a) a ship's wheel-house; (b) a house on land belonging to a sea pilot; pilot jet a narrow-bored jet in a motorcycle carburettor delivering petrol at a low rate when the engine is idling; pilot lamp = pilot light (b) below; pilot light (a) a small gas burner kept alight for lighting a larger burner; (b) an electric indicator light or control light; pilot-major Hist. the chief pilot of a fleet etc.; pilot-man a railway official who directs the movement of trains over a single-track line; pilot officer: holding the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force; pilot parachute = pilot chute above; pilot snake: see sense 3b above; pilot tone: see sense 7 above; pilot valve Engineering a small auxiliary valve that is operated in association with a larger valve; pilot whale either of two delphinoid whales, Globicephala melas, of temperate Atlantic and southern waters, and G. macrorhynchus, of mainly subtropical waters; also called blackfish; pilot wire: see sense 5 above.
pilotism noun (now rare or obsolete) = PILOTAGE 1 E17.
pilotless adjective (a) (esp. of an aircraft) without a human pilot; (b) without a pilot-light: E17.
pilotry noun (now rare or obsolete) = PILOTAGE 1 M18.
pilotship noun (now rare or obsolete) the office or function of pilot M17.