pilot

Meanings

Noun

• A person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
• A person who knows well the depths 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.
• Something serving as a test or trial.
• 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.
• A cowcatcher.
• A pilot light.
• One who flies a kite.
• A short plug, sometimes made interchangeable, at the end of a counterbore to guide the tool.

Adjective

• Made or used as a test or demonstration of capability.
• Used to control or activate another device.
• Being a vehicle to warn other road users of the presence of an oversize vehicle/combination.

Verb

• To control (an aircraft or watercraft).
• To guide (a vessel) through coastal waters.
• To test or have a preliminary trial of (an idea, a new product, etc.)
• To serve as the leading locomotive on a double-headed train.

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); ultimately from unattested Byzantine Greek *πηδώτης ("helmsman"), from Ancient Greek πηδόν ("blade of an oar, oar"), hence also Ancient and Modern Greek πηδάλιον.