▪ I. milliary, a. and n.
(ˈmɪlɪərɪ)
Also miliary.
[ad. L. milliārius (neut. -um), f. mille thousand (paces), mile.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to the ancient Roman mile of a thousand paces; marking a mile.
| 1644 Evelyn Diary 7 Nov., Before this was once placed a Miliary Column. 1753 Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 136 Milliary pillars [are] erected to mark out the distance of the ways. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Spittle in the Street, Linc., It is pleasant riding from hence to Lincoln, in a country wholly champaign, or heath, with miliary stones all the way, of which some are thought to be Roman. 1860 J. Newlands Carp. & Join. Assist. Index & Gloss., Milliary column, a column set up to mark distances; a milestone. Ibid. s.v. Column, The miliary column, set up as a centre from which to measure distances. |
† 2. Of or pertaining to a millennium. Obs.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Age, Milliary or Millenary Age, sæculum milliarium, or millenarium, on medals denotes the last year of a Millennium or thousand year. |
B. n.
1. A stone or mark set up by the ancient Romans to form a point of departure in measuring distances of a thousand paces; a milestone.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 423 London-stone..I take to haue beene a Milliarie or Milemarke. 1741–3 Pococke Descr. East (1745) II. 85, I saw, about a mile from the town, an antient Roman milliary. 1865 Reader 18 Mar. 313/2 He found no traces whatever of the letters, and therefore he inferred that they had never been inscribed on the milliary. |
† 2. A believer in the millennium. Obs.
| 1650 Bp. Hall Rev. Unrevealed §4 The ancient heresy of the Milliaries, as Austin calls them. |
▪ II. milliary
obs. form of miliary.