obeli

Noun

obelus (plural obeluses or obeli)

1. (historical) A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ⨪ or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant; an obelisk.
   • The ancienteſt of all is that of the Library of M. Colbert, which contains part of Exodus, Numbers, and Leviticus, of the Tranſlation of the Septuagint, with Lines call'd Obeli and Aſteriſks, as we find them in the Hexapla of Origen.1707, “Palæographia Græca, […] i.e. The Ancient Greek Way of Writing, or a Treatise of the Origin and Progress of Greek Letters, and of the Several Sorts of Greek Writing in All Ages: […] By D....
2. A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date; an obelisk.
   • And, with respect to the Homer of Aristarchus, it is to be considered, that besides the lines, sentences, and long passages, to which that Herod of critics affixed his obelus (†) or stiletto, there were entire books which he found no use on obelising piecemeal; because it was not this line or that...1862, Thomas De Quincey, “Homer and the Homeridæ”, in Dr Samuel Parr or Whiggism in Its Relations to Literature and Other Writings (De Quincey’s Works; V), Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, →OCLC...