¦ noun
1. a person who operates the flying controls of an aircraft.
2. a person with expert local knowledge qualified to take charge of a ship entering or leaving a harbour.
archaic a guide or leader.
3. [often as modifier] something done or produced as an experiment or test before wider introduction: a pilot scheme.
4. Telecommunications an unmodulated reference signal transmitted with another signal for the purposes of control or synchronization.
¦ verb (pilots, piloting, piloted)
1. act as a pilot of (an aircraft or ship).
guide; steer.
2. test (a scheme, project, etc.) before introducing it more widely.
Derivatives
pilotage noun
pilotless adjective
Origin
C16: from Fr. pilote, from med. L. pilotus, based on Gk pedon 'oar', (plural) 'rudder'.