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Definition of "obelus" [‖Ob•e•lus]

  • A mark (— or ÷) used in ancient manuscripts to indicate a doubtful or spurious passage. (noun)
  • Printing See obelisk. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "obelus" in a sentence
  • "Andrians and Corinthians, and the decree for the mutilation of the captives, of which Philokles was the author.] [Footnote 149: Golden crowns, at this period of Greek history, was the name applied to large sums of money voted by cities to men whose favour they hoped to gain.] [Footnote 150: A spit is called obelus in Greek.] [Footnote 151: Probably of each of the Spartan admirals who had commanded during the war."
  • "In the Latin text, the start and end of passages which are deeply corrupt and therefore difficult to correct are indicated by an asterisk, instead of the usual dagger (obelus)."
  • "_ -- What is the origin of the asterisk, obelus, &c., used for references to notes?"
Words like "obelus"