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atlas

Pronunciation: /ˈatləs/

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Definition of atlas

noun

1a book of maps or charts:I looked in the atlas to see where Naples was a road atlas

2 (also atlas vertebra) Anatomy the topmost vertebra of the backbone, articulating with the occipital bone of the skull.

3 (plural atlantes /atˈlantiːz/) Architecture a stone carving of a male figure, used as a column to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.

Origin:

late 16th century (originally denoting a person who supported a great burden): via Latin from Greek Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology who supported the heavens and whose picture appeared at the front of early atlases