Chapter Air-brained to Albatross of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Alasnam's Mirror The "touch-stone of virtue," given to Alasnam by one of the Genii. If he looked in this mirror it informed him whether a damsel would remain to him faithful or not. If the mirror remained unsullied so would the maiden; if it clouded, the maiden would prove faithless. - Arabian Nights: Prince Zeyn Alasnam.

Alastor The evil genïus of a house: a Nemesis. Cicero says: "Who meditated killing himself that he might become the Alastor of Augustus, whom he hated." Shelley has a poem entitled "Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude". The word is Greek (alastor, the avenging god, a title applied to Zeus); the Romans had their Jupiter Vindex; and we read in the Bible, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. xii. 19).

Alauda A Roman legion raised by Julius Cæsar in Gaul, and so called because they carried a lark's tuft on the top of their helmets.

Alawy The Nile is so called by the Abyssinians. The word means "the giant."

Alb The long white tunic (Latin, albus, white) bound round the waist with a girdle. The dress is emblematical of purity and continence, and worn by priests when saying Mass.

Albadara A bone which the Arabs say defies destruction, and which; at the resurrection, will be the germ of the new body. The Jews called it Luz (q.v.); and the "Os sacrum" (q.v.) refers probably to the same superstition.

Alban (St.), like St. Denis is represented as carrying his head between his hands. His attributes are a sword and a crown.

St. Aphrodisius, St. Aventine, St. Desiderius. St. Chrysolius, St. Hilarian, St. Leo, St. Lucanus. St. Lucian, St. Proba, St. Solangia, and several other martyrs, are represented as carrying their heads in their hands. An artist's bungling way of identifying a headless trunk.

Albania Turkey, or rather the region about the Caucasus. The word means the "mountainous region."

Albanian Hat (An). "Un chapeau à l'Albanaise." A sugar-loaf hat, such as was worn by the Albanians in the sixteenth century.

Albano Stone or Peperino used by the Romans in building; a volcanic tufa quarried at Albano.

Albany Scotland. (See Albin .)

Albati The white brethren. Certain Christian fanatics of the fourteenth century, so called because they dressed in white. Also the recently baptised. (Latin.)

Albatross The largest of webfooted birds, called by sailors the Cape Sheep, from its frequenting the Cape of Good Hope. It gorges itself, and then sits motionless upon the waves. It is said to sleep in the air, because its flight is a gliding without any apparent motion of its long wings. Sailors say it is fatal to shoot an albatross. Coleridge's Ancient Mariner is founded on this superstition.