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obelisk, n. (a.)|ˈɒbɪlɪsk|
Also 6–7 -iske, 7 -isck, 7–8 -isque, -isc.
[ad. L. obelisc-us small spit, obelisk, a. Gr. ὀβελίσκος dim. of ὀβελός spit, pointed pillar. In F. obélisque (1537 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A. n.
1. a. A tapering shaft or column of stone, square or rectangular in section, and usually monolithic and finished with a pyramidal apex; a type of monument specifically characteristic of ancient Egypt.
[1549Thomas Hist. Italie (1561) 33 Obeliscus is a stone that beyng broade and squere at the foote ascendeth proporcionallye to a sharpe poincte.] 1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 127 The Spaniardes raised up so many Obeliskes about the sepulcre of the deade, as he had slaine enimies. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage vi. ii. 471 Obelisks;..their Pillars of one stone, fashioned like a needle. 1648J. Raymond Il Merc. Ital. 78 The Obelisque which..is held to be the biggest of one stone..that ever came into Rome. 1695E. Bernard Voy. Aleppo to Tadmor in Misc. Cur. (1708) III. 95 A very tall and stately Obelisk or Pillar, consisting of seven large Stones, besides its Capital. 1735J. Price Stone-Br. Thames 5 Stone Obelisques for Lamps. 1869Rawlinson Anc. Hist. 3 Historical events..recorded..sometimes on obelisks or pillars.
†b. Loosely applied to a column or pillar of any form; in quot. 1698 app. a minaret. Obs.
1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1340/1 Two obeliskes or round spires, and betweene them a triumphall arch. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 368 At constant Hours the superior Clergy..from their Obelisks..call to the People to Pray.
c. A natural formation resembling an obelisk, as a lofty sharp-pointed mountain peak.
1845Darwin Voy. Nat. i. (1852) 11 At St. Helena..some pinnacles of a nearly similar figure..had been formed by the injection of melted rock into yielding strata, which had thus formed the moulds for these gigantic obelisks. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xv. 102 The dark and the stern obelisk of the Matterhorn. 1886Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 2 An avenue of cypress trees formed a double colonnade of green obelisks.
2. A straight horizontal stroke, either simple (–), or with a dot above and one below ({div}), used in ancient manuscripts to point out a spurious, corrupt, doubtful, or superfluous word or passage (= obelus, Gr. ὀβελός); in modern use applied to the mark † used in printing for marginal references, foot-notes, etc. (= dagger n.1 8). double obelisk, the double dagger ({ddag}).
1583Fulke Defence (1843) 25 Whatsoever is not found in the canon of the Jews..St. Jerome did thrust through with a spit or obelisk, as not worthy to be received. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 71 It is sufficient to note these things with an obeliske; They are dead tenets. a1711Grew (J.), Having compared it [the Septuagint] with the Hebrew, and noted by asterisks what was defective, and by obelisks what redundant. 1727W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 38 Obelisk, is a mark of Reference to the Margin, thus, † . 1864Sat. Rev. 9 July 60 Learned commentators..may transfix it with their ‘obelisk’ of condemnation as spurious.
†3. As rendering of Gr. ὀβελίσκος a spit. Obs.
1622Peacham Compl. Gent. xii. (1634) 116 Obolus (because it carryed the forme of a spit or obelisque so called) was the sixth part of a dram.
4. Comb.
1813Gentl. Mag. LXXXIII. 336/1 Obelisk-turned pinnacles. 1855Cornwall 63 Obelisk-like rocks. 1901Scotsman 12 Mar. 4/8 A magnificent obelisk-shaped pillar-stone.
B. as adj. Obelisk-shaped, obeliscal. rare.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 146 Consisting of Figures, obelisk, triangular, and pyramidall. 1922Joyce Ulysses 45 Their pushedback chairs, my obelisk valise, around a board of abandoned platters. |