henge

American  

[henj] / hɛndʒ /

noun

Archaeology.

1. a Neolithic monument of the British Isles, consisting of a circular area enclosed by a bank and ditch and often containing additional features including one or more circles of upright stone or wood pillars: probably used for ritual purposes or for marking astronomical events, as solstices and equinoxes.

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henge British  

/ hɛndʒ /

noun

1. a circular area, often containing a circle of stones or sometimes wooden posts, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages

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Etymology

Origin of henge

1730–40; back formation from Stonehenge, Middle English Stanenges, Stanheng, equivalent to stan stone + -heng, probably originally “something hanging”; cf. hinge

Example Sentences

Similar "henge" phenomena also occur in other cities with large amounts of skyscrapers and long straight streets - such as Chicago, Montreal and Toronto.

From BBC • May 30, 2023

The boundary also appears to have been laid out to include an earlier prehistoric monument, the Larkhill causewayed enclosure, built more than 1,500 years before the henge at Durrington.

From The Guardian • Jun. 22, 2020

London is itself like a cathedral built on a Roman temple that was built on a neolithic henge, layer upon layer of history, each generation making its mark on top of the other.

From Washington Post • Jun. 9, 2016

They line Durrington Walls, a large henge — or man-made earthen formation of a ditch and a ring — a bit more than a stone’s throw from Stonehenge.

From New York Times • Sep. 10, 2015

Unabashedly retro, with plenty of high- and low-tech silliness — "a henge!"

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2014