Pillion
adv, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A pad behind the saddle of a horse for a second rider.
"It was all the greater triumph to Miss Nancy Lammeter's beauty that she looked thoroughly bewitching in that costume, as, seated on the pillion behind her tall, erect father, she held one arm round him, and looked down, with open-eyed anxiety, at the treacherous snow-covered pools and puddles, which sent up formidable splashings of mud under the stamp of Dobbin's foot."
- 2 a seat behind the rider of a horse or motorbike etc. wordnet
- 3 A similar second saddle on a motorcycle for a passenger.
- 4 The person riding in the pillion.
- 5 The cushion of a saddle.
- 1 To ride on a pillion.
"When he had gazed at the stars sufficiently as they shone over his mistress's window, and put her candle to bed, re repaired to his own dormitory, and there, no doubt, thought of his Maria andhis horse with youthful satisfaction, and how sweet it would be to have one pillioned on the other, and to make the tour of all the island on such an animal with such a pair of white arms round his waist."
- 2 To put a pillion on a horse.
"Accordingly, he saddled and pillioned his horse, thinking he might have the honor of bringing the bride himself."
- 1 Riding behind the driving rider, as when positioned on the rump of a mount. not-comparable
Example
More examples"He afterwards remembered to the hour of his death, that when the hand of his sister, by which she supported herself on the pillion behind him, touched his own, it felt as wet and cold as sepulchral marble."
Etymology
From Scottish Gaelic pillean (“little rug”), from Latin pellis (“animal skin, pelt”).
Related phrases
More for "pillion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.