| 单词 | obelisk |
| 释义 | obelisk (once / 3626 pages) 1n 2n Next time you visit the nation’s capital, you can wow tourists by telling them the Washington Monument is an obelisk — a tall, narrow stone pillar that tapers to a point at the top and commemorates an important person or event. Obelisks were all the rage in ancient Egypt and still in vogue in Rome’s heyday. The Egyptians associated the skinny four-sided monoliths with the sun god Ra and thought they looked like the sun’s rays shining down. Herodotus was among the first writers to describe obelisks, and it’s to him that we owe the word; it comes from the Greek obelos, meaning “nail” or “pointed pillar.” History buffs can still spot obelisks, also called “Cleopatra’s Needles,” everywhere from Myanmar to Manhattan. WORD FAMILYobelisk: obelisks USAGE EXAMPLESDifferent decorative motifs proceed down the tapered legs, which resemble inverted obelisks. New York Times(Dec 22, 2016) Near the chapel stands Barnett Newman’s sculpture Broken Obelisk, a colossal impossibility, one point apparently balanced on another, supporting immense weight, forever suspended, forever incomplete. The Guardian(Nov 11, 2016) But first, one more glance to the right, where a 66-foot obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle was installed in 1881 after being moved from Egypt. New York Times(Nov 03, 2016) 1 n a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal top 2Exp|Hyper Washington Monument a stone obelisk built in Washington in 1884 to honor George Washington; 555 feet tall column, pillar a vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (such as a monument) n a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnote Syn|Hyper dagger character, grapheme, graphic symbol a written symbol that is used to represent speech |
| 随便看 |
英语词典包含147318条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。