Why Does Pillar Mean?

The word 'pillar' is used as a noun and it signifies a round stone that is very large and usually used as a supportive structure to a bridge or the roof of a building. A pillar can also be made of wood or metal and when it is used to support a roof usually you will find it a quite decorative structure. Sometimes it is used not to support anything but is made in the remembrance of a famous personality or sometimes to remind people of a remarkable event. The word can also be used for anything that has the shape of a pillar and mostly you come across this use of the word with smoke and the term is a pillar of smoke.
     
The word has its figurative uses also and you can use the word for somebody who is a staunch supporter of somebody or something. The word has its uses in an idiom also and the idiom 'be driven from pillar to post' is used to convey a phenomenon of to be forced to go one person to another without achieving anything.