Definition of "socle" []

• A plain square block higher than a plinth, serving as a pedestal for sculpture, a vase, or a column. (noun)
• A plain plinth supporting a wall. (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.

• "Do you know, however, "continued he musingly —" that at Sparta (which is now Palæochori), at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, is a kind of socle upon which are still legible the letters ΛΑΞΜ."
• "Do you know, however, 'continued he musingly,' that at Sparta (which is now Palaeochori) -- at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, is a kind of socle, upon which are still legible the letters."
• "They originally must have occupied a continuous socle elevating them even more than their mere size already did, in the central space of the complex, where we found the six-meter long dedicatory inscription of A.D."