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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
obelisk
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Above the col jutted the imposing obelisk of Ama Dablam.
▪ Hot water poured out the tops of basalt pillars that normally stand as cold obelisks in the middle of drained-back lava ponds.
▪ I copied the inscriptions on the plaque and the obelisk in my notebook.
▪ In the adjoining Garden on the Ramparts stand two obelisks marking the place where the victims of the Defenestration fell in 1618.
▪ In the middle of the wood was an obelisk commemorating the Emperor.
▪ It is in the form of a 20-foot high stone obelisk, and gives distances to no less than 3 6 towns.
▪ My father went out and I was left alone with the obelisk.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
obelisk

obelisk \ob"e*lisk\ ([o^]b"[e^]*l[i^]sk), n. [L. obeliscus, Gr. 'obeli`skos, dim. of 'obelo`s a spit, a pointed pillar: cf. F. ob['e]lisque.]

  1. An upright, four-sided pillar, gradually tapering as it rises, and terminating in a pyramid called pyramidion. It is ordinarily monolithic. Egyptian obelisks are commonly covered with hieroglyphic writing from top to bottom.

  2. (Print.) A mark of reference; -- called also dagger [[dagger]]. See Dagger, n., 2.

obelisk

Dagger \Dag"ger\ (-g[~e]r), n. [Cf. OE. daggen to pierce, F. daguer. See Dag a dagger.]

  1. A short weapon used for stabbing. This is the general term: cf. Poniard, Stiletto, Bowie knife, Dirk, Misericorde, Anlace.

  2. (Print.) A mark of reference in the form of a dagger [[dagger]]. It is the second in order when more than one reference occurs on a page; -- called also obelisk.

    Dagger moth (Zo["o]l.), any moth of the genus Apatalea. The larv[ae] are often destructive to the foliage of fruit trees, etc.

    Dagger of lath, the wooden weapon given to the Vice in the old Moralities.
    --Shak.

    Double dagger, a mark of reference [[dag]] which comes next in order after the dagger.

    To look daggers, or To speak daggers, to look or speak fiercely or reproachfully.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
obelisk

"rectangular stone column tapering at the top," 1560s, from Middle French obélisque (16c.) and directly from Latin obeliscus "obelisk, small spit," from Greek obeliskos "small spit, obelisk, leg of a compass," diminutive of obelos "a spit, pointed pillar, needle." Related: Obeliskine.

Wiktionary
obelisk

n. A tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.

WordNet
obelisk
  1. n. a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal top

  2. a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnote [syn: dagger]

Wikipedia
Obelisk

An obelisk ( UK: ; US: , from obeliskos; diminutive of obelos, " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. These were originally called "tekhenu" by the builders, the Ancient Egyptians. The Greeks who saw them used the Greek 'obeliskos' to describe them, and this word passed into Latin and then English. Ancient obelisks are monolithic, that is, they consist of a single stone. Apart from its shape, this is an obelisk's major identifying characteristic, because it demonstrates that the people who raised them had the technological ingenuity required to shift and raise stones weighing hundreds of tonnes. Though this technological capacity exists today, most modern obelisks are made of several stones; some, like the Washington Monument, are buildings. Technically, these are not real obelisks, but are obelisk-shaped monuments.

The term stele is generally used for other monumental, upright, inscribed and sculpted stones.

Obelisk (Sanssouci)

The Obelisk entrance ( German Obeliskportal) constitutes the eastern limit of Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. Following plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Frederick the Great ordered in 1747 that this exit from the park be built.

The New Palace, built at a later date, stands in the line of sight of the entrance; the two are connected by the roughly 2 km long main alley.

Two sandstone statues from the workshop of the sculptor Friedrich Christian Glume stand next to the pillars positioned in a square, right and left from the lower gateway to the park. Flora, the goddess of flowers, and Pomona, the goddess of fruit, draw attention to the fusion of the ornamental and kitchen garden styles in the park.

The obelisk entrance was used in Frederick's time solely as an exit from the park. This is the reason that the figures look into the interior of the park, so that they can say farewell to the guests.

The name of the palace is written a few steps beyond the obelisk. Likewise sketched by von Knobelsdorff, it indicates the boundary of Sanssouci Park.

The decorative hieroglyphs were given over to the imagination of the artist and thus contain no text, as in the 18th Century a translation of the ancient characters was not possible.

Obelisk (disambiguation)

An obelisk is a tall, four-side monument. "Obelisk" may also refer to:

Obelisk (hieroglyph)

The ancient Egyptian Obelisk hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. O25 is a portrayal of the obelisk. The hieroglyph is commonly used on erected Egyptian obelisks, as there is often a discussion of the event of its erection: a historical event, as well as an accomplishment of the pharaoh, and the Egyptian Kingdom.

Obelisk (Prague Castle)

The obelisk at Prague Castle is granite monolith and World War I memorial by Jože Plečnik, installed at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic.

Usage examples of "obelisk".

The timeworn obelisk at their backs, before them the amphibian horde was grouping for the final rush.

Happily there was not much of this exhausting work, for, just as higher and darker ranges, densely wooded with cryptomeria, began to close us in, we emerged upon a fine new road, broad enough for a carriage, which, after crossing two ravines on fine bridges, plunges into the depths of a magnificent forest, and then by a long series of fine zigzags of easy gradients ascends the pass of Yadate, on the top of which, in a deep sandstone cutting, is a handsome obelisk marking the boundary between Akita and Aomori ken.

It was easy to see that it was composed of blocks of all sizes, from twenty to three hundred feet in height, and of all shapes, round like towers, prismatic like steeples, pyramidal like obelisks, conical like factory chimneys.

When the directors, you understand, agreed to sell the obelisk to Baron Groll in Urbania, I could only, meekly, go along with them.

I was explaining before your corpulent associate burst in, Baron Felix Groll has decided, because of certain unfortunate incidents here at the museum, that he wants the Osiris Obelisk shipped to him even earlier than planned.

The obelisks of Luxor may be unrivalled, the sculptures of Medcenet Habu more exquisite, the colossus of Memnonion more gigantic, the paintings of the royal tombs more curious and instructive, but criticism ceases before the multifarious wonders of the halls and courts of Karnak and the mind is open only to one general impression of colossal variety.

Vpon the pointe of which Obelisk, with great arte and diligence, was fastned a copper base, in the which also there was a turning deuise infixed: whervpon did stand the shape of a beautifull nimph framed of the aforesayd matter, able to amaze the continuall diligent behoulder.

Khoklov, whose politics shaded toward Pamyat rightism with a mystical pan-Slavic spin, patted the granite base of the Obelisk with open pleasure.

He knew about the flight of birds, the patterns in lightning flashes, the sounds of thunder or earth movements, numbers, fireballs, shooting stars, eclipses, obelisks, standing stones, pylons, pyramids, spheres, tumuli, obsidian, flint, sky eggs, the shape and color of flames, sacred chickens, and all the convolutions an animal intestine could produce.

Which thus closing and mette together, made the socket of the great Obelisk: which Socket was beautified with leaues, fruites and flowers, of shining cast mettall, and of conuenient bignesse.

He stared until he had convinced himself of his own misapprehension, emerged from the black bar of shadow cast by the obelisk, continued up the trail.

Across the freestone obelisk at its head flit the shadows of giant gums, in whose leaves are gathered the wind-whispered monodies of centuries.

It is from the Pharaohs, however, that you must seek for the vast and the gigantic: the pyramid, the propylon, the colossus, the catacomb, the obelisk, and the sphinx.

They were, doubtless, once seated on each side of a propylon, as at Luxor, and in all probability were flanked by obelisks.

Ravagin knew, that would be protected from the early frosts of this part of Shamsheer by a small obelisk that somehow kept the entire grove at a safe temperature until the fruit was completely harvested.