STELE

stele, stela

(noun) an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings

stele

(noun) the usually cylindrical central vascular portion of the axis of a vascular plant

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Noun

stele (plural steles)

Obsolete form of stale.

Etymology 2

Noun

stele (plural steles or stelai)

(archaeology) An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.

(archaeology, uncommon) Any carved or engraved surface.

(architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.

Usage notes

• Although stela and stele were used in antiquity for pillars and columns generally, and continued to carry that meaning when their use was revived in English archaeology and architecture in the 18th and 19th century, respectively, present usage usually distinguishes obelisks, columns, shafts (the body of a column between the capital and the pediment), etc, from stela and stele, which are used to refer to engraved slabs or small pillars.

• Furthermore, although the terms still refer to small pillarlike gravestones from antiquity, the similar-looking herms are now often distinguished, as are modern gravestones, monuments, boundary markers, etc.

• The terms do sometimes refer to undecorated rocks when they have been raised by artificial means in prehistoric times, particularly when they are slab-like, but the large Neolithic menhirs are usually distinguished as are Chinese scholar's rocks or Taihu rocks, and other modern uses of upright stones as decoration or signage.

• Stele is frequently pluralized irregularly as stelae, which is also used as a plural form of the more Latinized singular form stela. The anglicized Greek plural stelai has been used since the late 19th century but is less common than steles.

Synonyms

• stela

Etymology 3

Noun

stele (plural steles)

(botany) The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.

Anagrams

• Leets, Steel, Teels, Teles, Ts'e-le, leets, sleet, steel, teles

Source: Wiktionary

Ste"le, n. Etym: [NL.]

Definition: Same as Stela. One of these steles, containing the Greek version of the ordinance, has recently been discovered. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

Stele, n. Etym: [See Stale a handle.]

Definition: A stale, or handle; a stalk. [Obs.] Chaucer. Holland.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition