From AHD:
pyre (pîr)
n.
A heap of combustibles for burning a corpse as a funeral rite.
A pile of combustibles.
[Latin pyra, from Greek purâ, from pûr, fire.]
pyr·a·mid (pĭr'ə-mĭd)
n.
1.
a. A solid figure with a polygonal base and triangular faces that meet at a common point.
b. Something shaped like this polyhedron.
2.
a. A massive monument of ancient Egypt having a rectangular base and four triangular faces culminating in a single apex, built over or around a crypt or tomb.
b. Any of various similar constructions, especially a four-sided Mesoamerican temple having stepped sides and a flat top surmounted by chambers.
3. The transactions involved in pyramiding stock.
4. Anatomy. A structure or part suggestive of a pyramid in shape.
v., -mid·ed, -mid·ing, -mids.
v.tr.
1. To place or build in the shape of a pyramid.
2. To build (an argument or thesis, for example) progressively from a basic general premise.
3. To speculate in (stock) by making a series of buying and selling transactions in which paper profits are used as margin for buying more stock.
v.intr.
1. To assume the shape of a pyramid.
2. To increase rapidly and on a widening base.
3. To pyramid stocks.
[Latin p[ymacr]ramis, p[ymacr]ramid-, from Greek pûramis, probably from Egyptian pimar.]
