PYRAMID • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Pyramid

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/pˈɪrəmɪd/ Listen

noun

Pyramid n.

1.

A solid body standing on a triangular, square, or polygonal base, and terminating in a point at the top; especially, a structure or edifice of this shape.

2.

(Geom.) A solid figure contained by a plane rectilineal figure as base and several triangles which have a common vertex and whose bases are sides of the base.

3.

pl. (Billiards) The game of pool in which the balls are placed in the form of a triangle at spot. (Eng.)

4.

(Finance) A fraudulent investment scheme in which the manager promises high profits, but instead of investing the money in a genuine profit-making activity, uses the money from later investors to pay the profits to earlier investors; also called pyramid scheme or pyramid operation. This process inevitably collapses when insufficient new investors are available, leaving the later investors with total or near-total losses of their investments. The managers usually blame government regulations or interference for the collapse of the scheme, rather than admit fraud.

Altitude of a pyramid (Geom.), the perpendicular distance from the vertex to the plane of the base.

Axis of a pyramid (Geom.), a straight line drawn from the vertex to the center of the base.

Earth pyramid. (Geol.) See Earth pillars, under Earth.

Right pyramid (Geom.) a pyramid whose axis is perpendicular to the base.

verb

Pyramid v. t. (Speculation) To use, or to deal in, in a pyramiding transaction. See Pyramid, v. i.

Pyramid v. i. (Speculation) To enlarge one's holding or interest in a series of operations on a continued rise or decline by using the profits to buy or sell additional amounts on a margin, as where one buys on a 10% margin 100 shares of stock quoted at 100, holds it till it rises to 105, and then uses the paper profit to buy 50 shares more, etc. The series of operations constitutes a pyramid. A similar process of reinvesting gains or winnings (as of a gamble), but not involving operation on margin, is called a parlay.

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Etymology of 'Pyramid'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pyramid" Quotes from Famous Books

... stack of breakfast foods where he could watch her, wondering that the clerks did not drop their several customers without ceremony and fly to do her bidding. She stood beside the counter and made overtures to a large Maltese cat who reposed there in solemn majesty. Beside the Maltese rose a pyramid of canned goods, and a placard announced, "Of interest to light house keepers." Upon this her eyes rested in evident surprise. "I didn't know there were any lighthouses in this part of the country," she said ...

— The Little Red Chimney - Being the Love Story of a Candy Man • Mary Finley Leonard

... enough for us," Beppo remarked. "Perhaps Carlo Alberto will beat them this time. If he does, viva to him! If they beat him, down goes another Venetian pyramid. The ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... cemetery within the now torn and shattered Aurelian wall by the Porta San Paolo, they are often mowing of buttercups. "A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread," says Shelley, whose child lies between Keats and the pyramid. But a couple of active scythes are kept at work there summer and spring—not that the grass is long, for it is much overtopped by the bee-orchis, but because flowers are not to laugh within reach of the ...

— Essays • Alice Meynell

... in the hall from Sarakoff asking me to come round to the Pyramid Restaurant at eight o'clock to meet a friend of his. It was a crisp clear evening, and I decided to walk. There were two problems on my mind. One was the outlook of Sarakoff, which even I deemed to be too materialistic. The other ...

— The Blue Germ • Martin Swayne

... Bois-Rose had quitted the spot where the preceding scenes had so rapidly taken place. They had reached the base of the pyramid. It was there that the solemn assizes were to be held, in which Fabian and the Duke de Armada were about to act the ...

— Wood Rangers - The Trappers of Sonora • Mayne Reid

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