Obelisk

Definition of obelisk:

part of speech: noun

A tall, four- sided, tapering pillar.

part of speech: noun

A tall, four- sided tapering pillar, cut off at the top like a flat pyramid: ( print.) a dagger.

part of speech: noun

A lofty, four- sided stone pillar shaped at the top like a pyramid; a reference mark: called also a dagger.

Usage examples for obelisk:

• Such is thy kingdom's ruin, so severe The hard and bloody trial fate hath sent, Dazed is the eye, and terrified the ear; Dark grows the sun, and every wind is spent; Each stone a mournful obelisk doth rear, And every flower erects a monument; A grave seems every house, whence life is gone,- Each soldier is a living skeleton. "Life Is A Dream", Pedro Calderon de la Barca Translated by Denis Florence MacCarthy.

• It is an obelisk the four sides of which are covered with allegorical bas- reliefs. "Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good", Victor Cousin.

• The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of extravagant size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding across the plain. "Salammbo", Gustave Flaubert.