Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In archaeology, one of a class of monumental stones of greater or less antiquity, found in various parts of Europe, also in Africa and in regions of Asia, especially in the Khassian hills.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A large stone set upright in olden times as a memorial or monument. Many, of unknown date, are found in Brittany and throughout Northern Europe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially of prehistoric times.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a tall upright megalith; found primarily in England and northern France

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Breton : men, stone (from Middle Breton) + hir, long (from Middle Breton).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Breton maen-hir, from maen ("stone") + hir ("tall") ( = Welsh maen hir, Cornish mênhere).

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Examples

  • She was eliminated after spelling the word menhir wrong.

    Latest News - UPI.com 2009

  • Lying also prostrate on the ground, by the side of it, is a smaller menhir, which is, however, above 30 feet long.

    Brittany & Its Byways Fanny Bury Palliser

  • The best known of these types are as follows: Firstly, the menhir, which is

    Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908

  • Moreover, in the departments of Aveyron, Tarn, and Hérault have been found what are known as menhir-statues, upright pillars of stone roughly shaped into human semblance at the top; they are of two types, the one clearly female and the other with no breasts, but always with a collar or baldric.

    Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders 1908

  • Thirteen-year-old Aishwarya Pastapur of Springfield, Ill., who loved to pump her arm and exclaim "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of stone monolith.

    unknown title 2009

  • Aishwarya Pastapur, 13, from Springfield, Ill., who loved to pump her arm and exclaim "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of monolith.

    unknown title 2009

  • "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of monolith.

    Gazette.com : 2009

  • "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of monolith.

    Home - BostonHerald.com 2009

  • Aishwarya Pastapur, 13, from Springfield, Ill., who loved to pump her arm and exclaim "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of monolith.

    Latest Headlines - ABC 7 News 2009

  • Aishwarya Pastapur, 13, from Springfield, Ill., who loved to pump her arm and exclaim "Yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir", a type of monolith.

    unknown title 2009

Comments

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  • "'There's a stone there to mark the border, maybe you'll know; it looks the sort of stone to last awhile.' He glanced at me, questioning.... I did know it; a huge menhir, some ten feet tall."

    —Diana Gabaldon, Voyager (NY: Dell, 1994), 555

    January 17, 2010