I. pil ‧ lo ‧ ry 1 /ˈpɪləri/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle pilloried , present participle pillorying , third person singular pillories ) [transitive usually passive]
if someone is pilloried, they are publicly criticized by a lot of people, especially in newspapers etc:
The education secretary was pilloried by the press for his latest proposals.
II. pillory 2 BrE AmE noun ( plural pillories ) [countable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: pilori ]
a wooden frame with holes for someone’s head and hands to be locked into, used in the past as a way of publicly punishing someone
⇨ the stocks at ↑ stock 1 (9)