ANOMALISTIC YEAR. The s.p.a.ce of time in which the earth pa.s.ses through her orbit--distinct from and longer than the tropical year, owing to the precession of the equinoxes.
ANOMALY. Deviation from common rule. An irregularity in the motion of a planet by which it deviates from the aphelion or apogee.--_Mean anomaly_ formerly signified the distance of a planet"s mean place from the apogee: it is the angular distance of a planet or comet from perihelion supposing it to have moved with its mean velocity.--_True anomaly_, the true angular distance of a planet or comet from perihelion. (_See_ EXCENTRIC and EQUATED.)
ANON. Quickly, directly, immediately.
ANONYMOUS PARTNERSHIPS. Those not carried on under a special name, and the particulars known only to the parties themselves. This is much practised in France, and often occasions trouble in prize-courts.
ANSae. The dolphins or handles of bra.s.s ordnance. Also the projections or arms of the ring on each side of Saturn"s globe, in certain situations relative to the earth.
ANSERES. Birds of the goose tribe.
ANSWER, TO. To reply, to succeed; as, the frigate has _answered_ the signal. This boat will not _answer_.
ANSWERS HER HELM. When a ship obeys the rudder or steers.
ANTARCTIC. Opposite to the Arctic--abbreviated from _anti-arctic_.
ANTARCTIC CIRCLE. One of the lesser circles of the sphere, on the south parallel of the equator, and 23-1/2 from the south pole.
ANTARCTIC OCEAN. That which surrounds the south pole, within the imaginary circle so called.
ANTARCTIC POLE. The south end of the earth"s axis.
ANTARES. A star of the first magnitude, popularly known as the _scorpion"s heart_ (a Scorpio): it is one of those called "nautical"
stars, used for determining the lat.i.tude and longitude at night.
ANTECEDENTAL METHOD. A branch of general geometrical proportion, or universal comparison of ratios.
ANTECEDENTIA. A planet"s apparent motion to the westward, contrary to the order of the signs.
ANTECEDENT OF A RATIO. The first of the two terms.
ANTECIANS. Those inhabitants of the earth who live under the same meridian, but in opposite hemispheres. (_See_ ANTISCII.)
ANTE LUCAN. Before daylight.
ANTE MERIDIAN. Before noon.
ANTE MURAL. _See_ OUTWORKS.
ANTHELION. A mock or spurious sun; a luminous meteor, resembling, but usually larger than, the solar disc.
ANTHRACITE. [Gr. _anthrax_ and _lithos_.] A stone coal demanding great draught to burn, affording great heat, little smoke, and peculiarly adapted for steamers.
ANTICHTHONES. The inhabitants of countries diametrically opposite to each other.
ANTI-GALLICANS. A pair of extra backstays, sometimes used by merchantmen, to support the masts when running before the trades.
ANTI-GUGGLER. A straw, or crooked tube, introduced into a spirit cask or neck of a bottle, to suck out the contents; commonly used in 1800 to rob the captain"s steward"s hanging safe in hot climates. Is to be found in old dictionaries.
ANTILOGARITHM. The complement of the logarithm of a sine, tangent, or secant.
ANTIPARALLELS. Those lines which make equal angles with two other lines, but contrary ways.
ANTIPATHES. A kind of coral having a black h.o.r.n.y stem.
ANTIPODES. Such inhabitants of the earth as are diametrically opposite to each other. From the people, the term has pa.s.sed to the places themselves, which are situated at the two extremities of any diameter of the earth.
ANTISCII. The people who dwell in opposite hemispheres of the earth, and whose shadows at noon fall in contrary directions.
ANT ISLANDS. Generally found on Spanish charts as _Hormigas_.
ANVIL. The ma.s.sive block of iron on which armourers hammer forge-work.
It is also an archaism for the handle or hilt of a sword: thus Coriola.n.u.s--
"Here I clip The anvil of my sword."
It is moreover a little narrow flag at the end of a lance.
ANYHOW. Do the duty by all means, and at any rate or risk: as Nelson, impatient for getting to Copenhagen in 1801, exclaimed--
"Let it be by the Sound, by the Belt, or anyhow, only lose not an hour."
ANY PORT IN A STORM signifies contentment with whatever may betide.
APAGOGE. A mathematical progress from one proposition to another.
APE, OR SEA-APE. The long-tailed shark. Also, an active American seal.
APEEK. A ship drawn directly over the anchor is _apeek_: when the fore-stay and cable form a line, it is _short stay apeek_; when in a line with the main-stay, _long stay apeek_. The anchor is _apeek_ when the cable has been sufficiently hove in to bring the ship over it.--_Yards apeek._ When they are topped up by contrary lifts. (_See_ PEAK.)
APERTae. Ancient deep-waisted ships, with high-decked forecastle and p.o.o.p.
APERTURE, in astronomy. The opening of a telescope tube next the object-gla.s.s, through which the rays of light and image of the object are conveyed to the eye. It is usually estimated by the clear diameter of the object-gla.s.s.
APEX. The summit or vertex of anything; as the upper point of a triangle.
APHELION. That point in the orbit of a planet or comet which is most remote from the sun, and at which the angular motion is slowest; being the end of the greater elliptic axis. The opposite of _perihelion_.
APh.e.l.lAN. The name of the double star a Geminorum, better known as Castor.
APHRACTI. Ancient vessels with open waists, resembling the present Torbay-boats.
APLANATIC. That refraction which entirely corrects the aberration and colour of the rays of light.
APLETS. Nets for the herring-fishery.
APl.u.s.tRE. A word applied in ancient vessels both to the ornament on the prow and to the streamer or ensign on the stern. Here, as in the rudder-head of Dutch vessels frequently, the dog-vane was carried to denote the direction of the wind.