SG Heritage Dictionary

Atlas [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A collection of maps in a volume; supposed to be so called from a picture of mount atlas supporting the heavens, prefixed to some collection.

2. A large square folio, resembling a volume of maps.

3. The supporters of a building.

4. A silk satin, or stuff, manufactured in the east, with admirable ingenuity. Atlasses are plain, striped, or flowered; but they have not the fine gloss and luster of some French silks.

5. The first vertebra of the neck.

6. A term applied to paper, as atlas fine.

Atlas [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. One who sustains a great burden.

2. The first vertebra of the neck, articulating immediately with the skull, thus sustaining the globe of the head, whence the name.

3. A collection of maps in a volume

4. A volume of plates illustrating any subject.

5. A work in which subjects are exhibited in a tabular from or arrangement; as, an historical atlas.

6. A large, square folio, resembling a volume of maps; -- called also atlas folio.

7. A drawing paper of large size. See under Paper, n.

8. A rich kind of satin manufactured in India.

Atlas Encyclopedia Britannica

ATLAS (*Ατλα?), in Greek ^Mythology, called sometimes a son of Japetus and the nymph Asia, or of Uranus and Gaia, and at other times traced to a different parentage, but always known as the being who supported on his shoulders the pillars on which the sky rested. He knew the depths of the sea (Odyssey, vii. 245), and in the first instance seems to have been a marine creation. The pillars which he supported were thought to rest in the sea, immediately beyond the most western horizon. But by the time of Herodotus (iv. 184), a mountain is suggested as best suited to hold up the heavens, and the name of Atlas is transferred to a hill in the N.W. of Africa. Then the name is traced to a king of that district, rich in flocks and herds, and owning the garden of the Hesperides. Finally, Atlas was explained as the name of a primitive astronomer. He was the father of the Pleiades and Hyades. Perseus encountered him when he searched for Medusa. Heracles took the burden of the sky from his shoulders, but cleverly contrived to replace it. Atlas bearing up the heavens is mentioned as being represented on early works of art,c.y.,on the chest of Cypselus (Pausan.,v. 18,1), and on the throne of Apollo at Amyclae (Pausan., iii. 18, 7); and this subject occurs on several existing works of art....

ATLAS, a mountain-chain of Northern Africa, between the great desert of the Sahara and the Mediterranean. The range has been but partially explored, and geographers differ as to its extent, some considering it to reach from Cape Ghir on the Atlantic to Cape Bon, the north-east point of Tunis, while others include under the name the whole mountain system between Cape Nun and the greater Syrtis. In this latter sense it forms the mountain-land of the countries of Marocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli. It is composed of ranges and groups of mountains, enclosing well-watered and fertile valleys and plains, and having a general direction from W. to E. The highest peaks are supposed to attain an elevation of nearly 15,000 feet; and although none of them reach the height of perpetual snow, some of their loftiest summits are covered with snow during the greater part of the year. Mount Miltsin, 27 miles S.E. of the city of Marocco, was ascertained by Captain Washington to be 11,400 feet high. The greatest heights are in Marocco, from which point they appear to diminish in elevation as they extend towards the E. These mountains, except the loftier summits, are, for the most part, covered with thick forests of pine, oak, cork, white poplar, wild olive, and other trees. The inferior ranges seem to be principally composed of Secondary limestone, which, at a greater elevation, is succeeded by micaceous schist and quartz-rock; and the higher chains are said to consist of granite, gneiss, mica-slate, and clay-slate. The Secondary and Tertiary formations are frequently disturbed and upraised by trap-rocks of comparatively modern date. Lead iron copper, antimony, sulphur, and rock-salt occur frequently; and in the Marocco portion of the range gold and silver are said to exist. In the Algerian division are mines of copper, lead, silver, and antimony. The lion, hyena, boar, and bear are common throughout the mountains. None of the rivers which take their rise in the system are of any great importance. The Tafilet is absorbed in the sands; the Tensift and Draa flow into the Atlantic; and about five or six find their way to the Mediterranean. Dr Hooker has explored the botany of many parts of the range, and the travels of Rohlfs have added largely to our general knowledge of it.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3, p. 27
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Atlases [Plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Atlas