Vocabulary from Folly Beach: Obelisk

wondrous memeWelcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a fabulous meme for word nerds hosted each week by Kathy at BermudaOnion.net.  Check out Kathy’s site and the links there to learn more great words.

Today I’m sharing another word from Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank.  The main character is describing her feisty Aunt Daisy.

She stood before me like an obelisk fashioned of milky-pink marble pulled from the depths of the quarries decades upon decades ago.  Her hands were firmly planted on her hips.

T. Jefferson obelisk
This obelisk marks Thomas Jefferson’s grave at Monticello. It lists the three accomplishments for which he was most proud: author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia.

obelisk \’äb-ə-lisk\ noun, from the Latin obeliscus and Greek obeliskos; an upright four-sided usually monolithic pillar that gradually tapers as it rises and terminates in a pyramid

Of course then I had to know what monolithic meant; I guessed from the “mono-” prefix that it had to do with “one.”

monolithic \män-əl-‘i-thik\ adj, cast as a single piece, formed of material without joints or seams

So I guess Aunt Daisy looked like a tall, sturdy pillar of stone.

Word Nerd Workout

Think of a character, or someone from your own life, that could be described as an obelisk and write a sentence about him or her.

My example,

Butler stood as an obelisk in the courtyard, refusing to let the intruders enter Fowl Manor.

(I’m still working my way through the AF series on audio book.)

I’m looking forward to your examples!

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

11 Comments

  1. I’ve never heard of a person described as an obelisk either – I like it! Love the sentence you provided by Dorthea. Sentence…hmmm…my children probably view me as an unfeeling obelisk when I’m ordering them to finish a chore or practice the piano…of any number of things, come to think of it!

  2. Egypt is full of obelisks. I travelled there in 1991 – by the end of the trip we were oblisked out…so much so we created a phrase “oh no a.b.o!” (another bloody obelisk). We also had abc by the end of our trip around Europe (another bloody cathedral/church/cemetery!)

  3. I’ve never heard of a person described as an obelisk… very cool! My brain is fried from being up all night with baby, so no sentence is forthcoming, but thanks for sharing this clever way of using a familiar word.

    1. Another great example of an obelisk, thanks Judy. Although, the Washington Monument is certainly not “monolithic”.

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