pedestrial

English

Etymology

From Latin pedester, -esteris, from pes, pedis (“a foot”). Compare French pédestere. See pedal and pedestrian.

Adjective

pedestrial (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the feet or walking; using or for use by the foot or feet.
   • 1611, Thomas Coryate, Coryat's Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c:

     Having now so amply declared unto thee most of the principal things of this thrice-renowned and illustrious city, I will briefly by way of an epitome mention most of the other particulars thereof, and so finally shut up this narration: there are reported to be in Venice and the circumjacent islands two hundred churches in which are one hundred forth-three pairs of organs, fifty-four monasteries, twenty-six nunneries, fifty-six tribunals or places of judgment, seventeen hospitals, six companies or fraternities, whereof I have before spoken; one hundred and sixty-five marble statues of worthy personages, partly equestrial, partly pedestrial, which are erected in sundry places of the city, to the honour of those that either at home have prudently administered the commonweal, or abroad valiantly fought for the same.

   • 1866, Mary Ann Fisher, A Spinster's Story, page 182:

     The curtains were closely drawn round the bed, but two bony, spindle shanks, terminating in a pedestrial form, protruded from beneath the drapery, an indication that the meagre little figure of the old lady was about to descend to the floor.

   • 1960, United States. Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Board of Contract Appeals Decisions, page 12-649:

     Extra compensation was allowed for built-in heating systems for the melting of ice and snow on exterior pedestrial ramps not exceeding 6% grade where this work was beyond the scope of the contract, which provided that ramps exceeding 6% grade were to have heating systems.

   • 1969, Attempts to Control Urbanization, page 24:

     Pedestrial and vehicular traffic were almost completely separated ( Figure 4 ) .

   • 1996, Moving to Los Angeles, page P-16:

     If you hope to avoid driving in Los Angeles, your best bets for living a pedestrial lifesyle are: Larchmont Village, along Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood, near Main Street in Santa Monica, or in Los Feliz Village around Hillhurst.

   • 1998, Jacob Howland, The Paradox of Political Philosophy: Socrates' Philosophic Trial, page 252:

     Conversely, the Stranger now seems to link the branch of pedestrial, nonwinged animals with the absence of phronêsis: he asks Young Socrates whether he does not believe that "even one most lacking in phronêsis [ ton aphronestaton ], so to speak," would hold that political nurture must be sought under the branch of pedestrial animals.

   pedestrial animals

2. Unenthusiastic; tepid.
   • 1941, Jacob Gould Schurman, James Edwin Creighton, Frank Thilly, The Philosophical Review - Volume 50, page 83:

     But it is also an interesting contribution to the technical literature about Dewey, for it is no pedestrial summary of the views about to be presented in extenso in the text, but a vigorous and enthusiastic exposition and defense of the thesis: "With respect to some specific problems, alternative solutions are possible, but with respect to the basic problem of scientific method there is no valid alternative to Dewey's solution."

   • 1981, Northeast African Studies - Volume 3, page 17:

     For a government which contemplated Ethiopia's "blow up" for at least some ten years and had put a high premium on maintaining "good relations with the Emperor," Washington's pedestrial reaction to the fall of Haile Sellassie shows, among other things, how untroubled it was by the revolutionary developments in Ethiopia.

3. Unoriginal and unexciting; pedestrian; tiresome.
   • 1895, Honoré de Balzac, The Human Comedy:

     'Imperial idol!' 'bent the knee!' damn it, my dear fellow, writing vaudevilles has ruined your style; you can't come down to pedestrial prose.

   • 1966, Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life, page 65:

     This one a pedestrial Western

   • 2015, William A. Everett, Paul R. Laird, Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical, page 227:

     He opened by stating that “'Miss Liberty' is a disappointing musical comedy . . . put together without sparkle or originality.” He calls the book “a pedestrial tale” and the score “not one of Mr. Berlin's most memorable."

Noun

pedestrial (plural pedestrials)

1. (usually in the plural) Foot.
   • 1857, Pennsylvania. Department of Public Instruction, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, page 122:

     The benches on which pupils sit at these desks , as well as all benches in such houses are high and backless , consequently no soundings for feet, so that we see a swinging of pedestrials at once ridiculous and painful to behold.

   • 1858, Yankee-notions - Volume 7, page 322:

     Gathering myself on my pedestrials as quick as possible, I beheld our favorite old pet sow retreating in an opposite direction.

   • 1904 July 21, “Audacities”, in The Club-fellow: The Society Journal of New York and Chicago, volume 6, number 2, page 11:

     He is in love with one of those dreamy-eyed, perky, lovable misses who wear elevator heels and who seem to caress the foot path with their dainty pedestrials when they sweep past Marshall Field's.

   • 2014, Brian Doyle, The Plover, page 265:

     Very rarely does a man get a new set of personal pedestrials, he said.

2. Pedestrian; person traveling on foot.
   • 1930, Alexander Contee Magruder, Oliver Miller, Maryland Reports, Containing Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of Maryland; Volume 159, page 113:

     The duty which drivers of motor vehicles owe to pedestrials at street crossings is one which should be deeply impressed upon all drivers of automobiles and other motor vehicles in this state, if need be, by a strict, vigorous, enforcement of the law.

   • 1946, Cincinnati Public Schools. Department of Instruction, Physiology and Health, page 38:

     Rating scales for drivers may be obtained, and safety and courtesy as practiced by cyclists and pedestrials discussed.

   • 1969, Northern Ireland. Ministry of Development, Landscape Aspects of Road Design, page 9:

     This kind of surface will deter both vehicles and pedestrials, and at the same time require a minimum of maintenance.

   • 1969, Records & Briefs New York State Appellate Division:

     The danger of automobile accidents and personal injuries to occupants and pedestrials is not a fiction but a fact on Bayview Avenue with statistical support.

   • 1990, Dawnhee Yim Janelli, Logical Contradictions in Korean Learned Fortunetelling, page 22:

     Sidewalk practitioners, on the other hand, who sit near street corners and other places where passing pedestrials may consult them, normally receive but a small fraction of the fees obtained by their better established colleagues.

3. A pedestal or short column.
   • 1847, United States. Works Administration, Ohio, Annals of Cleveland--1818-1935, page 108:

     They also manufacture all kinds of Marble work, as Mantles, Centre and Pier Tops, Counters, Facings, Hearths, Soda Founts, Urns, Pedestrials, etc., and give early and careful attention also to all orders for Monuments, Tombs and Head Stones, which they make in best style.

   • 1974, Tanzania Antiquities Department, Annual Report of the Antiquities Department, page 8:

     As a way of minimising the costs of replacing the destroyed signposts, the system of using signposts was discontinued and Stone pedestrials were erected.

   • 2005, Network Architectures, Management, and Applications:

     If outbound and incoming light are spectrally closely spaced, care of the pedestrials of the filters used for separation has to be taken.

Anagrams

• pilastered, plaistered, predilates, prelatised