‖ armilla
(ɑːˈmɪlə)
[L.; = bracelet, hoop; f. armus shoulder.]
1. A bracelet; now esp. in Archæol.
| 1706 Phillips, Armilla, a Bracelet or Jewel worn on the Arm or Wrist. 1721 in Bailey. 1791–1824 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 293/1 They had on their left arm, an armilla, an iron ring. 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 364 The wearing of the Armilla, or bracelet, as an ornament, is of very high antiquity. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. iii. 81 An armilla or ring of cannal coal. 1872 Wright Uricon. vii. 284 Bronze armillæ..of large dimensions. |
2. ‘One of the Coronation Garments.’ Bailey 1721.
3. ‘An Iron-Ring, Hoop, or Brace, in which the Gudgeons of a Wheel move.’ Phillips 1706.
4. An ancient astronomical instrument, consisting of a circular hoop fixed in the plane of the equator (Equinoctial Armilla), sometimes crossed at right angles by another fixed in the plane of the meridian (Solstitial Armilla). The shadows cast on the concave surfaces of these indicated the recurrence of the equinoxes and solstices.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. II. 419/1 Those armillas or spheres, which Hipparchus and Ptolemy..employed. 1810 Vince Astron. xxiv. 273 The armilla, or hoop representing the ecliptic. 1834 Hist. Astron. vi. 32/1 (U.K.S.) The construction of the astrolabium..was rather more complicated than that of the solstitial or equatorial armillæ. |
† 5. A ring or aureola. Obs.
| 1737 G. Smith Cur. Relat. I. iv. 550 Incircled with an Armilla or Ring of Light. |
† 6. The annular ligament of the wrist. (Perhaps not in Eng.) Obs.
| [1672 Barbetti Chirurg. v. i, Armilla membranosa manus.] 1721 in Bailey, etc. |