pier / pi(ə)r/ • n. 1. a structure leading out from the shore into a body of water, in particular: ∎  a platform supported on pillars or girders, used as a landing stage for boats. ∎  a similar structure leading out to sea and used as an entertainment area, typically incorporating arcades and places to eat. ∎  a breakwater or mole.2. a solid support designed to sustain vertical pressure, in particular: ∎  a pillar supporting an arch or a bridge. ∎  a section of a wall between windows or other adjacent openings.

pier.
1. A detached mass of construction, generally acting as a support, such as the solid part of a wall between two openings, or a massive element from which arches spring, as in a bridge.

2. Support, such as a pier in a repetitive medieval nave-arcade varying from sturdy, oversized Romanesque examples to the lighter, taller, more slender, multimoulded Perpendicular types. Piers are therefore very much more massive than columns.

3. Vertical formation in brickwork on the face of a flint or rag-stone wall, serving to strengthen it.

4. Stone, concrete, metal-work, or timber construction jutting out into the sea or other water as a break-water, landing-stage, or promenade.

5. Jetty or wharf.

pier one of the supports of the spans of a bridge XII; solid structure extending into the sea, etc. XIV; pillar XVII. ME. per — AL. pera or pēra, of unkn. orig.