pilot

noun

1. One who operates or is licensed to operate an aircraft in flight.
2. Nautical
   a. One who, though not belonging to a ship's company, is licensed to conduct a ship into and out of port or through dangerous waters.
   b. The helmsman of a ship.
3. One who guides or directs a course of action for others.
4. The part of a tool, device, or machine that leads or guides the whole.
5. A pilot light, as in a stove.
6. A television program produced as a prototype of a series being considered for adoption by a network.

transitive verb pi·lot·ed, pi·lot·ing, pi·lots

1. To serve as the pilot of.
2. To steer or control the course of. See Synonyms at guide.

adjective

1. Serving as a tentative model for future experiment or development: a pilot project.
2. Serving or leading as guide.

Origin:

Origin: Obsolete French, helmsman

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Old Italian pilota

Origin: , alteration of pedota

Origin: , from Medieval Greek *pēdōtēs

Origin: , from Greek pēda, steering oar

Origin: , pl. of pēdon, blade of an oar; see ped- in Indo-European roots

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Word History: The pilot of an aircraft speeding through the air and the pilot of a watercraft plowing through the water both drag an etymological foot on the ground. Surprisingly enough, considering its modern contexts, the English word pilot can be traced back to the Indo-European root *ped-, meaning “foot.” From the lengthened-grade suffixed form *pēdo- came the Greek word pēdon, “blade of an oar,” and in the plural, “steering oar.” In Medieval Greek there is assumed to have existed the derivative *pēdōtēs, “steersman,” which passed into Old Italian and acquired several forms, including pedota, and pilota, the form that was borrowed into Old French as pilot. English borrowed the word from French, and as pilot it has moved from the water to the air, first being recorded in 1848 with reference to an airborne pilot—a balloonist.