newel
(noun) the central pillar of a circular staircase
Source: WordNet® 3.1
newel (plural newels)
(architecture) A central pillar around which a staircase spirals.
(architecture) A sturdy pillar at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, supporting the handrail.
• (central pillar of a staircase spiral): spindle
newel (plural newels)
(obsolete) A novelty; a new thing.
Source: Wiktionary
New"el, n. Etym: [From New. Cf. Novel.]
Definition: A novelty; a new thing. [Obs.] Spenser.
New"el, n. Etym: [OF. nual, F. noyau sone, of fruit, noyau d'escaler newel, fr. L. nucalis like a nut, fr. nux, nucis, nut. Cf Nowel the inner wall of a mold, Nucleus..] (Arch.)
Definition: The upright post about which the steps of a circular staircase wind; hence, in stairs having straight flights, the principal post at the foot of a staircase, or the secondary ones at the landings. See Hollow newel, under Hollow.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
12 June 2025
(noun) a decrease in the density of something; “a sound wave causes periodic rarefactions in its medium”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
