obelisk

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ob·e·lisk

 (ŏb′ə-lĭsk)
n.
1. A tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapered and monolithic, that rises to a pointed pyramidal top.
2. The dagger sign (†), used especially as a reference mark. Also called dagger, obelus.

[Latin obeliscus, from Greek obeliskos, diminutive of obelos, a spit, obelisk.]

ob′e·lis′cal (-lĭs′kəl) adj.
ob′e·lis′koid′ (-koid′) adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

obelisk

(ˈɒbɪlɪsk)
n
1. (Architecture) a stone pillar having a square or rectangular cross section and sides that taper towards a pyramidal top, often used as a monument in ancient Egypt
2. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) printing another name for dagger2
[C16: via Latin from Greek obeliskos a little spit, from obelos spit]
ˌobeˈliscal adj
ˌobeˈliskoid adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ob•e•lisk

(ˈɒb ə lɪsk)

n.
1. a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone, usu. monolithic and having a pyramidal apex.
2. obelus.
[1540–50; < Latin obeliscus < Greek obelískos small spit]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

obelisk

1. A monument of Ancient Egyptian origins, consisting of a tall tapering shaft of stone with a pyramidal top.
2. A tall, four-sided, stone pillar, especially one erected as a monument in ancient Egypt.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.obelisk - a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal topobelisk - a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal top
pillar, column - a vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (such as a monument)
2.obelisk - a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnote
grapheme, graphic symbol, character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

obelisk

noun column, shaft, monument, pillar, monolith, needle The obelisk was erected in his memory in 1812.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
obelisk
obeliski

obelisk

[ˈɒbɪlɪsk] Nobelisco m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

obelisk

[ˈɒbəlɪsk] nobélisque m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

obelisk

n
(Archit) → Obelisk m
(Typ) → Kreuz nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

obelisk

[ˈɒbɪlɪsk] nobelisco
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
Try to decide between him who scribbles jokes on Egyptian obelisks, and him who has "bostoned" for twenty years with Du Bousquier, Monsieur de Valois, Mademoiselle Cormon, the judge of the court, the king's attorney, the Abbe de Sponde, Madame Granson, and tutti quanti.
She repressed her impulse to speak aloud, and rose and wandered about rather aimlessly among the statues until she found herself in another gallery devoted to engraved obelisks and winged Assyrian bulls, and her emotion took another turn.
Helena, however, I ascertained that some pinnacles, of a nearly similar figure and constitution, had been formed by the injection of melted rock into yielding strata, which thus had formed the moulds for these gigantic obelisks. The whole island is covered with wood; but from the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuriance.
The approach to this portico, from the Nile, was through an avenue two miles long, composed of sphynxes, statues, and obelisks, twenty, sixty, and a hundred feet in height.
People coolly pretend to read it who would think themselves presumptuous if they pretended to interpret the hieroglyphics on the obelisks of Luxor--yet they are fully as competent to do the one thing as the other.
No doubt, when one contemplates these two Bibles, laid so broadly open in the centuries, it is permissible to regret the visible majesty of the writing of granite, those gigantic alphabets formulated in colonnades, in pylons, in obelisks, those sorts of human mountains which cover the world and the past, from the pyramid to the bell tower, from Cheops to Strasburg.
They divided it into cakes by methods too well known to require description, and these, being sledded to the shore, were rapidly hauled off on to an ice platform, and raised by grappling irons and block and tackle, worked by horses, on to a stack, as surely as so many barrels of flour, and there placed evenly side by side, and row upon row, as if they formed the solid base of an obelisk designed to pierce the clouds.
Their residences are usually on the outskirts of 'the Rules,' chiefly lying within a circle of one mile from the obelisk in St.
Once, to be sure (as was recorded on an obelisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the catastrophe), Antaeus sat down upon about five thousand Pygmies, who were assembled at a military review.
If I express myself strongly it is all because I love you so much; and from that point of view I may say I should as soon have thought of making up to that piece of pale high-mightiness as I should have thought of making up to the Obelisk in the Place des la Concorde."
She strode like a grenadier, was strong and upright like an obelisk, had a beautiful face, a candid brow, pure eyes, and not a thought of her own in her head.
An obelisk marks the spot where two men have already been drowned, while bathing there; and the steps of the obelisk are generally used as a diving-board by young men now who wish to see if the place really IS dangerous.