pinnacle

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French pinacle, pinnacle, from Late Latin pinnaculum (“a peak, pinnacle”), double diminutive of Latin pinna (“a pinnacle”); see pin. Doublet of panache.

Noun

pinnacle (plural pinnacles)

1. The highest point.
2. A tall, sharp and craggy rock or mountain.
3. (figuratively) An all-time high; a point of greatest achievement or success.
4. (architecture) An upright member, generally ending in a small spire, used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire.
   • Milton

     Some renowned metropolis / With glistering spires and pinnacles around.

Verb

pinnacle (third-person singular simple present pinnacles, present participle pinnacling, simple past and past participle pinnacled)

1. to put something on a pinnacle
2. to build or furnish with a pinnacle or pinnacles

   (Can we find and add a quotation of T. Warton to this entry?)

Further reading

• pinnacle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• pinnacle in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• pannicle