From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
pillory
n : a wooden instrument of punishment on a post with holes for
the neck and hands; offenders were locked in and so
exposed to public scorn [syn: stocks]
v 1: expose to ridicule or public scorn [syn: gibbet]
2: punish by putting in a pillory
3: criticize harshly or violently; "The press savaged the new
President"; "The critics crucified the author for
plagiarizing a famous passage" [syn: savage, crucify]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Pillory \Pil"lo*ry\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pilloried; p. pr. &
vb. n. Pillorying.] [Cf. F. pilorier.]
1. To set in, or punish with, the pillory. "Hungering for
Puritans to pillory." --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
2. Figuratively, to expose to public scorn. --Gladstone.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Pillory \Pil"lo*ry\, n.; pl. Pillories. [F. pilori; cf. Pr.
espitlori, LL. piloricum, pilloricum, pellericum, pellorium,
pilorium, spilorium; perhaps from a derivative of L.
speculari to look around, observe. Cf. Speculate.]
A frame of adjustable boards erected on a post, and having
holes through which the head and hands of an offender were
thrust so as to be exposed in front of it. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]