Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PED'ES-TAL, n. [Sp. pedestal; It. piedestallo; Fr. piedestal; L. pes, the foot, and Teut. stall; G. stellen, to set.]

In architecture, the lowest part of a column or pillar; the part which sustains a column or serves as its foot. It consists of three parts, the base, the die and the cornice. – Addison. Encyc.