n.
- a person who operates the flying controls of an aircraft.
- a person with expert local knowledge qualified to take charge of a ship entering or leaving a harbour.
▸archaic a guide or leader.
-
[often as modifier]
something done or produced as an experiment or test before wider introduction:
a pilot scheme.
- Telecommunications an unmodulated reference signal transmitted with another signal for the purposes of control or synchronization.
v.
(pilots, piloting, piloted)
- act as a pilot of (an aircraft or ship).
▸guide; steer.
- test (a scheme, project, etc.) before introducing it more widely.
Derivative
- pilotage n.
- pilotless adj.
Etymology
C16: from Fr. pilote, from med. L. pilotus, based on Gk pēdon ‘oar’, (pl.) ‘rudder’.