Obeliscus, obelisci, m. g. Diminutiuum. Plinius. A great square stone broad beneath and waxing smaller and smaller toward the coppe, of a great height. There were diuers of them made in Rome.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
ŏbĕliscus, i, m., = o)beli/skos (a small spit; hence), I.An obelisk: trabes ex Syenite marmore fecere reges, obeliscos vocantes Solis numini sacratos, Plin. 36, 8, 14, 64 sq.; cf. Amm. 17, 4, 17; Isid. Orig. 18, 31; Tac. A. 3, 60.—II.A rose-bud (postclass.), Aus. Idyll. 14, 27.—III.A mark in books placed against suspected passages, an obelisk (), Aug. Ep. 10, 2 (cf. obelus).