noun.
A supporting column sculptured in the form of a draped female figure.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
pl. caryatids, caryatides (-idz, -i-dēz). In architecture, a figure of a woman dressed in long robes, serving as a column to support an entablature or to fill any other office of a column.
Pertaining to or of the form of a caryatid; caryatic.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A draped female figure supporting an entablature, in the place of a column or pilaster.