From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcaryatidcar‧y‧at‧id /ˌkæriˈætɪd/ noun [countable] AA technical a pillar in the shape of a female figure
Examples from the Corpus
caryatid• Level was captivated by one of Modigliani's large caryatids in watercolour and wanted to buy it.• Each of the legs of the table incorporated a naked ormolu caryatid.• It included academic studies, theatrical studies, caryatids, sculptural heads, nudes, portraits, studies for paintings.• The caryatids were sculpted not by Leoni himself but by Antonio Abbondio working to drawings by the owner.Origin caryatid (1500-1600) Latin caryatides (plural), from Greek, “female priests of the goddess Artemis at Caryae, a town in ancient Greece” 