Etymology From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.
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Archaeology, History, Human sciences, Sciences An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.
A superior class of members...had their names inscribed upon a marble stélé or column.1820, T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I x 303:
It appears, that when any one of the family died, a stelè to his memory was added to the tomb.1825, T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., I v 70:
2 more examples
In Egypt [obelisks] belonged to the class of steles (commemorative pillars).1847, C. O. Müller, translated by J. Leitch, Anc. Art, §224 193:
The Australian stele, or grave-pillar.1884, A. Lang, Custom & Myth, section 285:
Two large hieroglyphed steles incised upon the face of a projecting mass of boldly rounded cliff.1877, A. B. Edwards, Thousand Miles up Nile, VI 143:
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Archaeology, Architecture, History, Human sciences, SciencesObsolete An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.
Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470
Etymology From 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”).
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Biology, Botany, Natural sciences The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.
The stele may have—in different structures—one to many protoxylem (primitive wood) groups, and is accordingly described as monarch...diarch...triarch...tetrarch...polyarch.1895, Sydney Howard Vines, A Students' Text-book of Botany, section 179:
The so-called central cylinder, for which Van Tieghem has proposed the name stele (column).1898, Eduard Strasburger et al., translated by Hobart Charles Porter, A Text-book of Botany, section 109: