▪ I. atlas, n.2 arch. or Obs.
(ˈætləs)
[a. (ultimately) Arab. aṭlas ‘smooth, bare,’ thence ‘smooth silk cloth,’ f. ṭalasa to rub smooth, delete. Cf. in same sense It. raso shaved, satin. Also in G. atlas satin.]
A silk-satin manufactured in the East.
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2273/7 Atlasses 549 pieces. 1706 T. Baker Tunbr. Walks i. i, Fat city-ladies with tawdry atlasses. c 1710 in J. Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882) I. 167 One Purple and Gold Atlas Gown. 1766 J. H. Grose Voy. E. Indies (1772) I. 117 Their Atlasses or satin flowered with gold and silver. |
▪ II. atlas, v.
(ˈætləs)
[f. Atlas n.1]
trans. To support after the manner of Atlas: a. to prop up; b. to carry on one's shoulder or head.
| 1593 Nashe Christes T. (1613) 121 To ouerthrow both thy cause and my credite at once, by ouer-Atlassing mine inuention. 1859 All Y. Round No. 35. 203 An Armenian, atlasing a square coop of some forty barn-door fowls. |