Astrakhan
a name given to sheepskins with a curled woolly surface obtained from a variety of sheep found in Bokhara, Persia, and Syria; also a rough fabric with a pile in imitation of this.
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Single-source entries: A (105)
These 14 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Astrakhan, Astrakhan, Astrolabe.
Astrakhan
a Russian city, capital of the government of the same name, on an elevated island in the Volga. It is the seat of a Greek archbishop and has a large cathedral, as well as places of worship for Mohammedans, Armenians, etc. The manufactures are large and increasing, and the fisheries (sturgeon, etc.) very important. It is the chief port of the Caspian, and has regular steam communication with the principal towns on its shores. Pop. about 150,000, composed of various races. The government has an area of 91,327 square miles. It consists almost entirely of two vast steppes, separated from each other by the Volga, and forming for the most part arid, sterile deserts. Pop. about 1,350,000.
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Astrolabe
in its etymological sense, any instrument for taking the altitude of a star or other heavenly body, a definition which would include not merely the astrolabe, properly so called, but also the sextant, the quadrant, the equatorial, the altitude and the azimuth circle, the theodolite, or any similar instrument. A type of astrolabe was in use among at least from the early part astronomers of the 2d century A. D., if not even from the 2d or 3d century B. C.
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Astronomical Clock
A clock having twenty-four hours shown on the dial and a pendulum of such length as to show stellar time, which is three minutes, fifty-six seconds shorter than the mean solar day. Also called sidereal clock. 2. A clock, or orrery, showing the comparative motion of the heavenly bodies, by means of concentric discs, rotating proportionately on a central arbor which also carries the ordinary clock hands.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Astronomical Time
Mean solar time, reckoned by counting the hours continuously up to twenty-four from one noon up to the next. Civil Time, The reckoning of time for the common purposes of life The division of time into years, months, days, hours and seconds.
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Astrophysics
that branch of astronomy which deals with the physical condition, temperature, and chemical temperature, properties of the celestial bodies. The chief instruments employed are the spectroscope, the bolometer, the photometer, and the camera. The most important of these is the SPECTROSCOPE (q. v.).
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Asturias
or OVIEDO, a northern province of vince of Spain, washed on the N. by the Bay of Biscay; area 4,207 square miles; pop. about 700,000. The low hills of Leon and Old Castile rise gradually to the mountain-chain which forms the S. boundary, and which is but a prolongation of the Pyrenean system. The N. slopes are broken by steep and dark valleys or chasms, which are among the wildest and most picturesque in Spain. The chief rivers are the Nalon, Navia, and Sella. Agriculture is the chief industry. The coasts have good fisheries, but poor harbors. The chief minerals of the province are copper, iron, lead, cobalt, arsenic, antimony, and coal of excellent quality. The chief towns are Gijon, Aviles, Llanes, and Luarca. Oviedo, the capital, has, since 1833, given its name to the whole province. The heir-apparent of the Spanish King has the title of Prince or Princess of Asturias. The Romans had great difficulty in subduing Asturias, about 22 B. C. Later it offered an asylum to the Goths, whose prince, Pelayo, bravely withstood the Arabs rabs (718 A. D.); successors carried on the contest successfully, and became Kings of Leon in the 10th century.
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Astyages
son of Cyaxares, the last King of Media, reigned 594-559 b. c. In the latter year he was dethroned by Cyrus, who, according to Herodotus, was his grandson.
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Astyages, Aufidus & Autolycus
Astyages Son of Cyaxares, last king of Media, reigned B. c. 594-559. He was deposed and deprived of his dominions by his grandson Cyrus. Aufidus The principal river of Apulia, flowing with a rapid current into the Adriatic. Venusia, the birthplace of Horace, was on the Aufidus. Autolycus Son of Hermes (Mercury) and Chione, and father of Anticlea, who was the mother of Ulysses .
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Astyanax
A son of Hector and Andromache. He was very young when the Greeks besieged Troy, and when the city was taken his mother saved him in her arms from the flames. According to Euripides he was killed by Menelaus . 2026 Editor's Note: While this text follows Euripides in naming Menelaus as his killer, the more common tradition holds that Astyanax was killed by Neoptolemus, who threw him from the walls of Troy. His birth name was Scamandrius, after the river Scamander; the people of Troy nicknamed him Astyanax, meaning 'king of the city,' because he was the son of their great defender, Hector. (Ed: BR 2026-06-08)
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Asuncion
or ASSUMP- TION, the capital of the Republic of Paraguay; on a terrace skirting the left bank of the Paraguay river. It has a cathedral (1845) and a college. The principal articles of commerce are leather, tobacco, sugar, manioc, and maté or Paraguay tea. It was founded on Aug. 15, 1537, the feast of the Assumption. Pop. about 120,000.
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Atacama
the name, formerly, of two provinces, (1) Chilean and (2) Bolivian; now entirely belonging to Chile. Area 30,728 square miles; pop. about 70,000. The Saline of Atacama is a salt morass, mostly dried up, 1,074 square miles in extent, on an elevation of 7,000 feet. The province is very rich in minerals, especially copper and silver.
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Atacamite
an orthorhombic, translucent mineral, classed by Prof. Dana under his oxychlorids. The hardness is 3 to 3.5; the sp. gr., 3.7 to 4.3; the luster verging from adamantine to vitreous; the color bright green, with an apple-green streak. It is massive or pulverulent. Composition: Chlorine, 15.51 to 16.33; oxide of copper, 50 to 66.25; copper, 13.33 to 56.46; water, 16.91 to 22.60. It occurs in Atacama, in Chile; in Australia; in Africa; in Spain; and at St. Just, in Cornwall.
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Atahualpa
the last Inca of Peru, was the son of the 11th Inca, Manco Capac. His mother was of royal lineage, and through her he inherited the kingdom of Quito. With his elder brother Huascar, who succeeded to the throne of the Incas in 1523, he remained at peace for five years; but, on his being summoned to acknowledge the dependency of his kingdom on that of Peru, he prepared for war, entered the dominions of Huascar with 30,000 men, defeated him in a pitched battle, and thrust him into prison. ison. Three years afterward, Pizarro captured the island of Puna, and Huascar, hearing in prison of the victorious stranger, sent ambassadors to Puna requesting assistance. The inca also proposed an interview with the Spaniard, and Pizarro by treachery succeeded in obtaining possession of the person of the Inca. Huascar had been put to death by order of his brother, and now Atahualpa was declared guilty of treason to the Spanish crown, and sentenced to be burned alive, in 1533. The sentence was commuted to strangulation.
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