Noun

(-)

(dialect) dust

* {{quote-journal

, year=1876 , author=Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art , journal=Report and transactions , volume=8 , page=722 , passage=What is the derivation of pilm''''' = dust, so frequently heard in Devon, and its derivatives ''pilmy'', dusty : it ''pilmeth''. [...] ''Pillom'' is the full word, of which '''''pilm'' is a contraction. It appears to have been derived from the British word ''pylor, dust.}}

* {{quote-journal

, year=1885 , author=Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art , journal=Report and transactions , volume=17 , page=55 , passage=I may quote the famous definition once given in court to enlighten the Bench and the Bar as to the nature of pilm''''' : " Mucks a-drowed and zo vleeth," that is, " mud dried, and so ''it'' flies about "—not a bad definition of '''''pilm , which everybody here knows means dust.}}

Noun

(en-noun)

A Roman military javelin.

* 1776' Besides a lighter spear, the Roman legionary grasped in his right hand the formidable '''pilum , a ponderous javelin whose utmost length was about six feet and which was terminated by a massy triangular point of steel of about eighteen inches. This instrument was indeed much inferior to our modern fire-arms; since it was exhausted by a single discharge at the distance of only ten or twelve paces. Yet when it was launched by a skilled and firm hand, there was not any cavalry that durst venture within its reach, or any shield or corslet that could withstand the impetuosity of its weight. : ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire : Edward Gibbon. This edition Penguin 2000. p. 21