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obelisk

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“

The estimated cost of this obelisk is about Ł5,000 currency, the materials of the old monument being used as far as possible; and as above Ł4,000[146] have already been contributed, it is expected that the new structure will be commenced in the spring of 1845.

—The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock

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Definitions (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun A tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapered and monolithic, that rises to a pointed pyramidal top.
noun Printing The dagger sign (†), used especially as a reference mark. Also called dagger, obelus.

Century Dictionary (2)

A tapering shaft of rectangular plan, generally finished with a pyramidal apex. The apex in the typical obelisks of ancient Egypt was sheathed with a bronze cap. The proportion of the thickness to the height is nearly the same in all Egyptian obelisks — that is, between one ninth and one tenth; and the thickness at the top is never less than half nor greater than three fourths of the thickness at the base. Egypt abounded with obelisks, which were set up to record the honors or triumphs of the kings; and many have been removed thence, in both ancient and modern times. The two largest were erected by Sesostris in Heliopolis; the height of these was 78 feet; they were removed to Rome by Augustus. Two obelisks in Alexandria, known as Cleopatra's Needles, were offered by Mehemet Ali to Great Britain and France respectively. The French chose instead the Luxor obelisk, which was erected in the Place de la Concorde in Paris in 1833. That chosen by the British lay prostrate in the sand until it was removed and erected on the Thames embankment in London, in 1878, by private enterprise. Its height is 68 feet 5½ inches, and its dimensions at the base are 7 feet 10½ inches by 7 feet 5 inches. The companion obelisk was afterward presented to the city of New York, where it now stands in Central Park, having been transported thither in 1880 by private enterprise. Small models of obelisks are found in the tombs of the age of the pyramid builders, and represented in their hieroglyphics. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 129.
In printing and writing, a sign resembling a small dagger (), and hence also called a dagger. It was formerly employed in editions of ancient authors to point out and censure spurious or doubtful passages, and for like purposes, but is now generally used as a reference-mark to direct the reader to a marginal note or foot-note on the same page, in dictionaries to distinguish obsolete words, or before dates in biographical or historical works of reference to indicate the year of death. The double obelisk is a mark of reference of the form ‡. The Lord Keeper … was scratched with their obelisk, that he favoured the Puritans. Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, i. 95.

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (2)

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Examples

The estimated cost of this obelisk is about Ł5,000 currency, the materials of the old monument being used as far as possible; and as above Ł4,000[146] have already been contributed, it is expected that the new structure will be commenced in the spring of 1845. — The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock
Built on to the bole of an old oak by the obelisk is an apartment engagingly labelled "Ye Village Cage." — Highways and Byways in Surrey
This obelisk is a solid piece of red granite, without hieroglyphics, and, with the pedestal and ornaments at the top, is 182 feet high. — De vita Caesarum
And hence the obelisk is the most suitable of all forms to indicate in our cemeteries the glorious truth of the resurrection, life rising victorious out of the transitory condition of death. — Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood
It must be remembered that the obelisk is a single stone, seventy-two feet high, and weighs five hundred thousand pounds. — Paris: With Pen and Pencil Its People and Literature, Its Life and Business

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Used in the Same Context

sarcophagus · sarcophagi · campanile · spire · monolith · mausoleum · pyramid · minaret · monument · statuary · tombstone · headstone

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

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

Century Dictionary (1)

= French obélisque = Spanish Portuguese Italian obelisco, from Latin obeliscus, an obelisk (pillar), Late Latin a rosebud, also a mark in writing, from Gv.ὀβελίσκος, a spit, a pointed pillar, a coin stamped with a spit, a sword-blade, spear-head, etc., diminutive of ὀβελός, a spit, a pointed pillar, a mark used in writing: see obelus.

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/ˈɑbɛlɪsk/

by American Heritage

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