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Spire vs Obelisk - What's the difference?

spire | obelisk |

As nouns the difference between spire and obelisk

is that spire is the stalk or stem of a plant while obelisk is a tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.

As a verb spire

is of a seed, plant etc.: to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.

spire

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) . Cognate with Dutch spier, German Spier, (Spiere), Danish spir, Norwegian spir, Swedish spira.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
  • * 1913 ,
    • Clara had pulled a button from a hollyhock spire , and was breaking it to get the seeds.
  • A sharp or tapering point.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
    • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=1 citation , passage=A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.}}
  • A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof.
    • The spire of the church rose high above the town.
  • The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
  • * Shakespeare
    • the spire and top of praises
  • (mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.

    • Verb

    (spir)
  • Of a seed, plant etc.: to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.5:
    • In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of woman kind it fayrest Flowre doth spyre , / And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desyre.
  • * Mortimer
    • It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.
  • To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) spirer, and its source, (etyl) .

    Verb

    (spir)
  • (obsolete) To breathe.
    • (Shenstone)

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) spire.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
  • A spiral.
    • (Dryden)
  • (geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    obelisk

    English

    (wikipedia obelisk)

    Alternative forms

    * obelisc

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author= , title=The Washington Monument , volume=100, issue=1, page=16 , magazine= citation , passage=The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk', and sometimes even as a “true '''obelisk''',” even though it is not. A true ' obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.}}
  • (printing) The dagger sign (†), especially when used as a reference mark.

    • See also

    * menhir * pillar ----