of Obelus
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
1. A truncated, quadrangular and slender pyramid intended as an ornament, and often charged with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. Some ancient obelisks appear to have been erected in honor of distinguished persons or their achievements. Ptolemy Philadelphus raised one of 88 cubits high in honor of Arsinee. Augustus erected one in the Campus Martius at Rome, which served to mark the hours on a horizontal dial drawn on the pavement.
2. In writing and printing; a reference or mark referring the reader to a note in the margin. It is used also for a mark of censure, or for designating obsolete words, or for other purposes at the pleasure of the writer.
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.
Obelisk
Encyclopedia Britannica
OBELISK. See Alexandria, vol. i. p. 495; Architecture, vol. ii. p. 390; and Egypt, vol. vii. pp. 768, 778. The obelisk known as “Cleopatra’s Needle,” referred to in vol. i. p. 495 as having been offered to the English Government by Mehemet Ali, but declined, has since been brought to London, and placed on the Thames Embankment in 1878. The other was conveyed to the United States and erected in Central Park, New York, in 1880.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 17, p. 703
[77 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]
[77 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]
of Obelisk
No thesaurus entries found for "Obeli".
No Bible verses found for "Obeli".
