atrioventricular 
atrial, or auricular, and ventricular cavities of 
the heart: as, the atriorentricular valve. 
atrip (a-trip'), i'rj>. /i//r. :is ndr. or a. [< <i* + 
ti'i/i 1 , n.] Saiit. : (a) Just raised from the 
ground in weighing: said of an anchor, (ft) 
Hoisted from the cap, sheeted home, and ready 
for trimming: said of sails, (c) Swayed up, 
ready to have the stops cut for crossing : said 
of yards, (d) Having the fid loosed : said of 
an upper mast. 
Atriplex (at'ri-ph'ks), n. [L., also atriplexum, 
a perversion of Gr. arpdipa^vi;, also written arpa- 
0<if<f, lu>dpAfat;i{} origin obscure.] A large ge- 
iius of plants, natural order ('lir>io/io<liiirt; 
mostly mealy or scurfy herbs or low shrubs, 
growing usually in saline localities, and of very 
little importance. The garden orach, A. horti-it*i*. is 
cultivated to some extent as a salad, and a variety with 
crimson foliage for ornament. A niimticr of sin -ubby spe- 
cies are very frequent in the dry and alkaline portions of 
western North America, and are generally known as 
ti,-''<i'-/<-<,<!, a term which also includes some other Cheno- 
/itn/iflcetV. 
atrium (a'tri-um), . ; pi. atria (-a). [L., in 
senses 1 and 2, also a hall in general ; said to 
have been orig. the kitchen, and so called be- 
cause blackened with smoke, < atcr, black; 
but perhaps the reference is to the hearth or 
fireplace in the atrium, the name being con- 
nected with cedes, orig. a fireplace (cf. E. oast), 
later a house, temple : see edifice.] 1. In anc. 
Rom. arch., the entrance-hall, the most impor- 
Atrium. Restoration of a Pompeiian interior. 
tant and usually the most splendid apartment 
of the house. At an early period, and later among the 
poor, the atrium was used not only as a ceremonial room, 
but as a reception-room and for general domestic pur- 
poses, as cooking and dining. In it were placed the ances- 
tral images and heirlooms, the marriage-couch, the focus 
or hearth, and generally a small altar. Later, among the 
wealthy, and when separate apartments were built for 
kitchen and dining-room, chapel of the lares, etc., it was 
reserved as a general reception- and show-room. It was 
lighted by an opening in the roof, called the compluvium, 
toward which the roof sloped, so as to conduct the rain- 
water into a cistern in the floor, called the impluvium. 
2. A hall or court resembling in arrangement 
an atrium proper, as at the entrance of some 
classical or early Christian public buildings, 
etc. 3. [NL.] In anat., an auricle of the heart, 
or some equivalent venous cardiac cavity. 
In all the other vertebrates [than Amphioxus] there is 
a heart with at fewest three chambers (sinus venosus, 
atrium, ventricle). Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 57. 
4. [NL.] In nodi. : (a) The chamber or cavity 
of ascidians, communicating with the exterior, 
and with the cavity of the alimentary canal. 
See atrial, and cut under Tunieata. 
The atrium, into which the freces and genital products 
are poured. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 514. 
(6) A membranous saccular diverticulum of the 
ear in fishes: as, the atrium sinus imparis, a 
membranous sac given off from the sinus audi- 
torius impar of fishes, and connected in various 
ways with the air-bladder. 
atrocet, [< F. atroce, < L. atrox (ace. atro- 
cem), cruel: see atrocious.] Atrocious. 
atroceruleous (at-ro-se-ro'le-us), a. [< L. ater, 
black, + cwruleus, blue: see cerulean.] Of a 
deep blackish-blue color, as an insect. 
atrocha (at'ro-ka), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of 
atroclms: see atrochous,] 1. Ciliated embryos 
of the polychsetous annelids, in which the cilia 
form a broad zone around the body, leav- 
368 
ing each end free of cilia, excepting, in some 
cases, a tuft on the head. See mesotrocha, 
teleotrocha. 2. [cup.] In Itotifera, a group of 
wheel-animalcules having no cilia and the lobes 
highly modified in shape ; the wheelless roti- 
fers. 
atrochous (at'ro-kus), a. [< NL. atrochus, < 
Gr. a- priv. + rpo^of, anything round or circu- 
lar, a wheel, etc., < rpe^ttv, run.] 1. Of or per- 
taining to atrocha ; having cilia disposed as 
in those aunelidan larvss called atrocha. 2. 
Wheelless, as a rotifer. 
atrocious (si-tro'shus), a. [< L. atrox (atroc-), 
cruel, fierce, horrible, < atcr, black: see atroce 
and -ous.] 1. Manifesting or characterized by 
atrocity ; extremely heinous, criminal, or cruel ; 
enormously or outrageously wicked. 
Revelations ... so atrocious that nothing in history 
approaches them. De (Jin '</'-//. 
In spite of the canon law, which forbade a churchman to 
take any part in matters of blood, the archbishop signed 
the "arrant for the atrociuux sentence. 
Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist. 
2f. Very grievous; violent: as, atrocious dis- 
tempers. 3. Very bad; execrable: as, an atro- 
cious pun. [Colloq.]=Syn. 1. Wicked, ScamMi^. 
Shocking, FUt'jraut, lli'intmx, Infainotix, Outrageous, 
Atrocious, JT<mffir0tM horrible, villainous, llagitious, dia- 
bolical, agree in expressing great and intentional badness, 
calling for strong abhorrence. Because they are used 
with feeling, the recognition of their differences is not al- 
ways practicable. Flagrant and heinous are hardly appli- 
cable to persons ; the others apply to persons or things. 
Wicked is the generic word, and is the lightest where all 
are strong ; it is the one that is most common in a playful 
use, yet it is at times an intense word, as forcible as any 
of the others, though less definite. Scandalous means 
offensive to decency, and so disgraceful. That which is 
shocking, literally, gives a sudden and heavy blow, and 
hence produces a corresponding feeling of horror or dis- 
gust, or both. That which is flagrant, literally, flames 
into notice, and hence is glaring, striking, and so notori- 
ous, enormous in badness. Heinous means hateful, and 
hence aggravated. That which is infamous is worthy of a 
total loss of reputation, and hence has a reputation or 
character of the worst kind, especially for baseness. Out- 
rageous means attended with outrage, doing outrage, 
especially outraging decency, going beyond all bounds, 
like the acts of a madman. Atrocious is primarily fierce 
or cruel, savage, bloody, and wicked, enormously wicked, 
hence violating the first principles of humanity or of 
human nature. That which is monstrous is so bad as to 
be out of the course of nature ; a prodigy or miracle of 
badness. See abandoned, criminal, irreligious, and nefa- 
ruius. 
As even here they talked at Almesbury 
About the good King and his wicked Queen. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
So the king arose and went 
To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees 
That made such honey iu his realm. 
Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
In this dreadful manner was one who had been till then 
of an excellent character hurried on, from a single, and 
seemingly slight, indulgence, into the depth of the gross- 
est and most shocking villanies. Seeker, Sermons, I. xxv. 
The offenses which prompt strong invective have been 
far more numerous and Jtat/rant in his [Sydney Smith's] 
own country than in ours. Whipple, Ess. and Rev., 1. 139. 
The object of this society [Abolition] is now, as it has 
always been, to convince our countrymen, by arguments 
addressed to their hearts and consciences, that slave- 
holding is a heinous crime. W, Phillips, Speeches, p. 98. 
There is no crime more infamous than the violation of 
truth. Johnson. 
This ill day 
A most outrageous fit of madness took him. 
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 
It is a war base in its object, atrocious in its beginning, 
immoral in all its influences. 
Sumner, Speech against Mexican War, Nov. 4, 184C. 
Pliny assures us that the most monstrous of all criminals 
was the man who flrst devised the luxurious custom of 
wearing golden rings. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 157. 
atrociously (a-tro'shus-li), adv. In an atro- 
cious manner; with great cruelty or wicked- 
ness. 
atrociousness (a-tro'shus-nes), . The state 
or quality of being atrocious ; atrocity. 
The atrociouxness of the crime made all men look with 
an evil eye upon the claim of any privilege which might 
prevent the severest justice. 
Burke, Abridg. of Eng. Hist., Hi. 6. 
atrocity (a-tros'i-ti), n. ; pi. atrocities (-tiz). 
[Early mod. E. "atrocyte, < P. atrociU, < L. 
atrocita(t-)s, cruelty, hatefulness, < atrox, cruel, 
etc. : see atrocious.] 1. The state or quality 
of being atrocious ; enormous wickedness ; ex- 
treme criminality or cruelty. 
They desired justice might be done upon offenders, as 
the atrocity of their crimes deserved. Clarendon. 
Burke was the only man in England in whom the prose- 
cution of Indian delinquency and atrocity was a fixed pas- 
sion as well as a fixed principle. 
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., II. 318. 
2. A specific act of extreme heinousness or 
cruelty; an atrocious deed. 
The atrocities which attend victory. Macaulay. 
I'riiitof Dock ( 
Section shows erect (atropal) 
seed. ( From Le Maout and 
Decaisne's " Traite general 
de Botanique." ) 
atropons 
Atropa (at'ro-pa), n. [NL., < Gr. '{Vrpojrof, one 
of the Fates, who cut the thread of life, lit. the 
inflexible, < arpoirof, unchangeable, < a- priv. + 
TpeKctv, turn: see trope.] A genus of plants, 
natural order Solanaa-w, of a single species, A. 
Belladonna, the deadly nightshade, a native 
of Europe and western Asia. See belladonna. 
atropal (at'ro-pal), a. [< 
Gr. arpoTrof, inflexible, 
not to be turned: see 
Atropa.] In bot. ; erect; 
orthotropous : said of an 
ovule. Also atropous. 
atrophiated (a-tro'fi-a- 
ted), . [< atrophy 4- 
-ate? + -ed?.] Atrophied. 
[Rare.] 
atrophic (a-trof ik), a. 
[< atrophy + -ic.] Pertaining to atrophy ; char- 
acterized by atrophy ; exhibiting or undergo- 
ing atrophy: as, an atrophic process; an atroph- 
ic organ. 
atrophied (afro-fid), />. a. [< atrophy + -erf 2 .] 
Exhibiting or a'ffected with atrophy ; wasted. 
In many instances special muscles, or sets of muscles, 
are atrophied from want of use. 
B. W. llw/iardson, Prevent. Med., p. 232. 
The distrust of one's own atrophied faculties of loving. 
E. S. Phclps, Beyond the Gates, p. 105. 
atrophy (at'ro-fi), . [= F. atropMe, < LL. atro- 
I ill / a, < Gr. arpfx/tia, wasting, lack of nourish- 
ment, < drpo^iof, not well fed, < a- priv. + Tptyeiv, 
nourish, feed.] 1. A wasting of the body, or 
of a part of it, owing to defective nutrition. 
There is no demand for the labour of the poor; the 
fable of Menenius ceases to be applicable ; the belly com- 
municates no nutriment to the members ; there is an 
atrophy in the body politic. 
Macaulay, Mitford's Hist. Greece. 
2. In oot. and zool., arrested development of an 
organ due to stoppage of growth at any stage 
by the operation of causes either external to 
or inherent in the organism Brown atrophy, a 
very common degeneration of muscle in a heart hypcrtro- 
phied as a result of valvular disease or of old age. The 
heart, frequently of increased consistence, is dark red- 
brown, and its fibers contain pigment, accumulated espe- 
cially about the nuclei. Cruveilhier's atrophy, pro- 
gressive muscular atrophy. 
atrophy (at'ro-fi), v. i. ; pret. and pp. atrophied, 
ppr. atrophying. [< atrophy, n.] To waste 
away. 
As the fruit ripens one of them almost always atrophies. 
G. Allen, Colin Clout's Calendar, p. 121. 
The tail gradually shrinks and atrophies. 
Clans, Zoology (trans.), p. 120. 
atropia (a-tro'pi-a), n. [NL.,< Atropa.] Same 
as atropin. 
atropic (a-trop'ik), a. [< atropia + -ic.] Of 
or pertaining to atropiu. 
atropin, atropine (afro-pin), n. [< NL. atro- 
pina, < Atropa + -ilia : see -in 2 .] A crystal- 
obtained from the 
, 
line alkaloid (jvss oane rom e 
deadly nightshade, Atropa Belladonna. It is 
very poisonous, and produces temporary dila- 
tation of the pupil. Also atropina and atropia. 
atropina (at-ro-pi'na), n. [NL.] Same as at- 
ropin. 
atropine, . See atropin. 
atropinise, . t. See atropinize. 
atropinism (at'ro-pin-izm), n. [< atropin + 
-ism.] Same as atropism. 
atropinize (afro-pin-lz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
atropinized, pp.' atropinizing. [< atropin + 
-ize.] To poison or affect with atropin. Also 
sometimes spelled atropinise. 
atropism (at'ro-pizm), n. [< atropia + -ism.] 
The morbid state produced by atropin, charac- 
terized by dilated pupil, frequent pulse, dry- 
ness of mouth and skin, hallucinations, and 
delirium. Also atropinism. 
atropization (at"ro-pi-za'shpn), n. [< atro- 
pize + -ation.] Tnat state of the body, or of 
any of its organs, produced by the introduction 
of atropin. 
atropize (at'ro-piz), r. t. ; pret. and pp. atro- 
pized, ppr. atr'opizing. [< atropia + -4ze.] To 
add atropin to ; affect with atropin. 
AtropOS (at'ro-pos), n. [NL., < L. Atropos, 
< Gr. 'ftrpojrof, one of the Fates: see Atropa.] 
1. A genus of neuropterous insects, of the 
family Psocidai : synonymous with Troetes. A. 
jndxatoriux shares with certain beetles the popular name 
of death-watch, and is a great pest in entomological collec- 
tions. 
2. A genus of venomous serpents. Wagler, 
1830. [Not in use.] 3. A genus of lepidop- 
terous insects._ Oken, 1815. 
atropous (at'ro-pus), a. [< Gr. arpon-of, not to 
be turned: see Atropa.] Same as atropal. 
