the usually cylindrical central vascular portion of the axis of a vascular plant
<noun.plant>
an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings
<noun.artifact>
Stele \Ste"le\ (st[=e]"l[=e]), n. [NL.] Same as {Stela}.
One of these steles, containing the Greek version of the ordinance, has recently been discovered. --I. Taylor (The Alphabet).
Stele \Stele\ (st[=e]l), n. [See {Stale} a handle.] A stale, or handle; a stalk. [Obs.] --Chaucer. --Holland.
Stale \Stale\ (st[=a]l), n. [OE. stale, stele, AS. st[ae]l, stel; akin to LG. & D. steel, G. stiel; cf. L. stilus stake, stalk, stem, Gr. steleo`n a handle, and E. stall, stalk, n.] The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake. [Written also {steal}, {stele}, etc.]
But seeing the arrow's stale without, and that the head did go No further than it might be seen. --Chapman.
So far, the only clues to these mysterious people are a four-ton stele, or stone slab, covered with hieroglyphic writing and a 19-inch-high clay figure of a fertility-rite priest.
The pavilion dominates Jing Ling and holds the grave stele, the emperor's flattering "tombstone."
Adding to the intrigue, the Mayas lived in the Yucatan Peninsula, more than 700 miles to the east, Winfield said at the museum in Xalapa, where the stele and figure are kept.