alar 
atedin the axils or forks of a plant.- Alar artery 
and vein, a small artery and its attendant vein supplying 
the axilla, usually termed the alar thoracic artery and 
vein. Alar cartilage, the lower lateral cartilages of the 
nose. Alar cells, in mosses, the cells at the basal aimlcs 
of a leaf. Alar expanse, <>r alar extent, in nrnith. and 
cntinn., the distance from tip to tip of the spread wings of 
a bird or an insect. Alar flexure. Boe JWRUV. JUV 
ligaments, in (mat., two fringe-like folds springing from 
the ligatnentum mucosum of the knee-joint mid projecting 
Into the synovial cavity. Also called plicce adipostr and 
iiinr,<ifj>iiiiii. 
alarget (a-larj'), v. t. [< ME. alargen = OF. 
*alargir (cf. OF. eslargir, F. elargir, with pre- 
fix es- t < L. ex-), < ML. "allargire (cf. Pr. /- 
gar = Sp. Pg. alargar, < ML. allargarc), < L. 
ad, to, + ML. lartjire, Itirgare, enlarge ; cf . L. 
largiri, give largess, grant, < largus, large : see 
large. Cf . enlarge.] To enlarge ; increase. 
Alaria (a-la'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. alarius, < ala, 
a wing: see aisle.'] A genus of olive-brown 
algae, found in the colder parts of the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans. The membranous frond is from 
3 to 20 feet long and has a thick midrib. A. ettntlenta is 
variously called badderlocks, henu'are, or murlinn. The 
midrib is used as an article of food in some parts of Scot- 
land and Ireland, and in Iceland. 
alarm (a-larm'), . [Also alarum, and abbrev. 
In rum , a form, now partly differentiated in mean- 
ing, due to rolling the r; formerly also allarm, 
allarme, aW army ; < ME. alarme, used interjec- 
tionally, alarom, a loud noise (= D. G. 8w. Dan. 
alarm, alarm, noise, by apheresis G. larm, Dan. 
fara),< OF. alarme, " an alarum " (Cotgrave), = 
Pr. alarma = Sp. Pg. alarma, < It. allarme, tu- 
mult, fright, alarm, < aW ante, to arms ! alle, < 
a (< L. ad), to, + le, fern, pi., < L. illas, ace. fern, 
pi. of ille, the ; arme, fern. pl.,< L. arma, neut. pi., 
arms : see arm 2 .] 1 . A summons to arms, as on 
the approach of an enemy ; hence, any sound, 
outcry, or information intended to give notice 
of approaching danger. 
Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Joel ii. 1. 
Eeady to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm. 
Longfelltm; Paul Revere's Ride. 
2f. A hostile attack ; a tumult ; a broil ; a dis- 
turbance. 
Remove your siege from my unyielding heart ; 
To love's alarum it will not ope the gate. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 424. 
3. A sudden fear or painful suspense excited 
by an apprehension of danger ; apprehension ; 
fright : as, there is nothing in his illness to 
cause alarm. 
I shook her breast with vague alarm*. 
Tennyson, The Letters. 
4. A warning sound ; a signal for attention ; an 
urgent call, summons, or notification. Specifically 
(a) In fencing, an appeal or a challenge made by a step 
or stamp on the ground with the advancing foot. (M In 
freetnajonry, a knock at the door of the lodge to give 
warning, as of the entrance of a candidate for initiation. 
5. A self-acting contrivance of any kind used 
to call attention, rouse from sleep, warn of 
danger, etc. Sueh devices arc made in a great variety 
of forms, as, for example, alarm-clocks, fog-bells, fog- 
whistles, and sounding or whistling buoys ; bells to indi- 
cate changes in temperature, the opening or shutting of 
doors, gates, or drawers, the arrival of a given hour, or 
the condition of telephone- and telegraph-wires ; signals 
to call attention to the escape of gas, steam, water, 
air, etc. Alarm Check-valve, a valve in a steam-en- 
gine, usually closed by a spring and opening under the 
pressure of steam, used to give an alarm when the in- 
jector ceases to work or refuses to start. Electric 
alarm. See electric. Low-water alarm, in a steam- 
boiler, an automatic device for giving a signal by sound- 
ing a whistle when the water falls below the point of 
safety. =Syn. 1. Alarum, tocsin. 3. Alarm, Apprehen- 
sion, Frijjht, Terror, Dismay, Conxternation, Panic, af- 
fright, agitation, flutter, perturbation. These words all 
express degrees of fear in view of possible or certain, per- 
haps imminent, danger. Apprehension is the lowest de- 
gree of fear ; the mind takes hold of the idea of danger, 
and without alarm considers the best way of meeting it. 
Alarm, is the next stage ; by derivation it is the alarum or 
summons to arms. The feelings are agitated in view of 
sudden or just-discovered danger to one's self or others. 
Generally its effect upon the mind is like that of appre- 
hension; it energizes rather than overpowers the mental 
faculties. Fright, terror, and dimay are higher and per- 
haps equal degrees of fear ; their difference is in kind and 
in effect Fright affects especially the nerves and senses, 
being generally the effect of sudden fear. Terror may be 
a later form of fright, or independent and as sudden ; it 
overpowers the understanding and unmans one. Ditmay 
appals or breaks down the courage and hope, and there- 
fore, as suggested by its derivation, the disposition to do 
anything to ward off the peril ; what (/W/IWT/X one may be 
the failure or loss of his chosen means of defense. Fright 
and terror are often the effect of undefined fears, as in 
superstition, and are especially used with reference to 
physical fear. Consternation overwhelms the mental fac- 
ulties by the suddenness or the utterly unexpected great- 
ness of the danger. Panic is a peculiar form of fear ; it is 
sudden, demoralizing, a temporary madness of fear, alto- 
gether out of proportion to its cause ; there may even be 
no cause discoverable. It is the fear of a mass of people, 
or, figuratively, of animals. 
128 
It was clear that great alarm would be excited through- 
out Europe if either the Emperor or the Dauphin should 
become King of Spain. 
Macaulay, Mahon's Succession in Spain. 
Rip now felt a vague apjirehension stealing over him ; 
he ... perceived a strange figure slowly toiling up the 
rocks. Irving, Rip Van Winkle. 
To go to bed was to lie awake of cold, with an added 
shudder ot fright whenever a loose casement or a waving 
curtain chose to give you the goose-flesh. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 30. 
shadows to-night 
Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, 
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers. 
Shak., Kich. III., v. 3. 
Dismay seized our soldiers, the panic spread, increased 
by the belief that a fresh army had come up and was en- 
tering the field. W. Ware, Zenobia, II. xiii. 
Conceive but for a moment the consternation which the 
approach of an invading army would impress on the 
" peaceful villages in this neighbourhood. 
R. Hall, Reflections on War. 
Each ill*- child and the soldier] is liable to panic, which 
is, exactly, the terror of ignorance surrendered to the im- 
agination. Etni-rson, Courage. 
alarm (a-larm'), v. [(alarm, n.] I. trans. 1. 
To call to arms for defense ; give notice of dan- 
ger to; rouse to vigilance and exertions for 
safety: as, alarm the watch. 
A countryman had come in and alarmed the Signoria 
before it was light, else the city would have been taken 
by surprise. George Eliot, Romola, II. liv. 
2. To surprise with apprehension of danger; 
disturb with sudden fear ; fill with anxiety by 
the prospect of evil. 
Fan flies alann'd into the neighbouring woods, 
And frighted nymphs dive down into the floods. 
Dryden, Art of Poetry, ii. 245. 
A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more 
than a band of robbers. Addimn, Spectator, No. 7. 
Il.t intranti. To give an alarm. 
Now, valiant chiefs ! since heaven itself alarm*, 
Unite. Pope, Iliad, ii. 93. 
alarmable (a-lar'ma-bl), a. [< alarm + -able.'] 
Liable to be alarmed or frightened. 
alarm-bell (a-larm'bel), . A bell used in giv- 
ing notice of danger, as from the approach of 
an enemy, from fire, etc. 
On the gates alarm-bells or watch-bells. 
HiltM, Hist. Moscovia, iii. 
alarm-bird (a-larm'berd), . A species of tura- 
cou, Schizorhis zonurus, of Africa. 
alarm-clock (a-larm'klok), n. A clock which 
can be so set as to make a loud and continued 
noise at a particular time, in order to arouse 
from sleep or attract attention. 
alarm-compass (a-larm'kum"pas), n. A mari- 
ner's compass having an electrical attachment 
for indicating by an alarm any deviation of the 
ship from its course. 
alarm-funnel (a-larm'fun'el), n. A form of 
funnel for use in filling casks or barrels, so 
constructed that when the liquid has risen to 
a certain height in the cask a bell is rung. 
alarm-gage (a-larm'gaj), . A contrivance for 
indicating automatically, by an alarm, when 
pressure, as in a steam-boiler or an air-com- 
pressor, reaches a certain point. 
alarm-gun (a-larm'gun), n. A gun fired as a 
signal of alarm. 
alarmingly (a-lar'ming-li), adv. In an alarm- 
ing manner ; with alarm ; in a manner or de- 
gree to excite apprehension. 
This mode of travelling . . . seemed to our ancestors 
wonderfully, and indeed alarmingly, rapid. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. 
alarmism (a-lar'mizm), n. [< alarm + -ism."] 
A tendency to create alarms, or to be alarmed 
needlessly; a state of needless alarm; the con- 
dition or practice of an alarmist. [Rare.] 
alarmist (a-lar'mist), n. [< alarm + -1st; = F. 
alarmiste.] One who excites alarm; one who 
is prone to raise an alarm, as by exaggerating 
bad news or prophesying calamities, particu- 
larly in regard to political or social matters. 
He was frightened into a fanatical royalist, and became 
one of the most extravagant alarmists of those wretched 
times. Macaulay, Walpole's Letters. 
It was as he approached fourscore, during the Adminis- 
tration of Sir Robert Peel, that the Duke [of Wellington] 
became an alarmist. Gladstone, Gleanings, I. 121. 
alarm-lock (a-larm'lok), n. A lock, padlock, 
bolt, latch, or knob so arranged that a bell is 
caused to ring by any movement of its parts, 
or by any attempt to open the door, till, or the 
like, to which it is fastened. 
alarm-post (a-lann'post), n. A position to 
which troops are to repair in case of an alarm. 
alarm-watch (a-larm 'wpch), n. A watch pro- 
vided with an alarm which can be set to strike 
at a given moment, in order to attract attention. 
You shall have a gold alarm-watch, which, as there 
may be cause, shall awake you. Sir T, Herbert, Memoirs. 
a latere 
alarum (a-lar'um or a-lar'um), . [A form of 
nliinn, due to a strong rolling of the r: see 
iiliirm, n.] Same as alarm, but now used only 
in sense 4, except poetically. 
A Nourish, trumpets ! strike alarum, drums! 
Shale., Rich. III., iv. 4. 
The dread alarum should make the earth quake to its 
centre. Hmrtlmrne, (lid Manse. 
She had an alarum to call her up early. 
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxi. 
alarum (a-lar'um or a-lar'um), r. t. Same as 
alarm. 
Wither'd nmrther, 
Alanini'd by his sentinel, the wolf. 
Shale., Macbeth, ii. 1. 
alarum-bell (a-lar'um-bel), n. Same as alarm- 
bell. , 
No citizen ean lie down secure that he shall not be 
roused by the alarum-bell, to repel or avenge an injury. 
Macaidfii/. l>antr. 
alary (a'la-ri), a. [<L. alarius: see alar.~\ 1. 
Relating "to wings or wing-like parts ; being 
wing-like. Specifically applied, in cittern., to certain 
muscles passing in pairs from the walls of the pericardial 
chamber of some insects to the abdominal parietes. See 
"/'' cordvt, under ala. 
The alary system of insects. 
Wollaston, Variation of Species, p. 45. 
Tile alary muscles, which in most insects are fan-shaped, 
and lie in pairs, opposite one another, on each side of the 
heart, either unite in the middle line, or are inserted into 
a sort of fascia, on the sternal aspect of the heart, to which 
organ they are not directly attached. 
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 373. 
2. In anat. and hot., wing-shaped, 
alas (a-las'), interj. [Early mod. E. also abbr. 
las, lass; < ME. alas, allots, alaas, allaas, alace, al- 
lace, < OF. a las, ha las, liai las (later Aetos, also 
abbr. las; mod. F. lie/as; = Pr. at /<w,o = It. aki 
lasso), < a, ah ! (< L. ah, ah!), + las, wretched, < 
L. lassus, weary: see lassitude.'] An exclama- 
tion expressive of sorrow, grief, pity, concern, 
or apprehension of evil : in old writers sometimes 
followed by the day or the while : as, alas the day, 
alas the while. See alackaday. 
For pale and wanne he was (alas the while!). 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., Jan. 
Alas, the day! I never gave him cause. 
Shak., Othello, iii. 4. 
Alas for those who never sing, 
But die with all their music in them. 
0. W. Holmes, The Voiceless. 
Alascan (a-las'kan), . A name given to a 
foreign Protestant in England during the reign 
of Edward VI. So called from John Laski or Alasco, 
a Polish refugee of noble birth who was made superinten- 
dent of the foreign churches in London. 
alaskaite (a-las'ka-It), n. [Better *alaskite, < 
Alaska (see def . ) +'-ite 2 .] A sulphid of bismuth, 
lead, silver, and copper found at the Alaska 
mine in Colorado. 
Alaskan (a-las'kan), a. Of or belonging to 
the peninsula or territory of Alaska in N. W. 
America; growing or found in Alaska: as, 
"Alaskan cedar," Science, TV. 475. 
alastor (a-las'tqr), . [< Gr. 'AAaoT6)p,the aveng- 
ing deity, lit. the unf orgetting ; cf . aAaarof, not 
to be forgotten, unceasing, < a- priv. + f Mar6(, 
verbal adj. of 'AaBelv, forget.] A relentless 
avenging spirit ; a nemesis. N. E. D. 
Alata (a-la'ta), n. pi. FNL., neut. pi. of L. 
alatus, winged: see atote*.] A name given by 
Lamarck to a combination of the molluscan 
families Strombida;, Aporrhaidte, and Struthio- 
lariidce, having reference to the expanded wing- 
like outer lip of the shell. See wingshell. 
alatCfla(ii-la-cha'),. [See alatlja.] A cotton 
stuff made in central Asia, dyed in the thread, 
and woven with white stripes on a blue ground. 
E. Schuyler, Turkistan, I. 5. 
alateH (a-laf), prep. phr. as adv. [< a* for of 
+ late.'}" Of late; lately. 
Where chilling frosts alate did nip, 
There flasheth now a fire. Greene, Doralicia. 
alate 2 , alated (a'lat, a'la-ted), a. [< L. alatus, 
winged, < ala, wing: see aisle.] 1. Winged; 
having membranous expansions like wings. 
But the Harpies alate 
In the storm came, and swept off the maidens. 
Mrs. Browning, Poems (1878), p. 219. 
Specifically (a) In hot. , applied to stems and leaf-stalks 
with the edges or angles longitudinally expanded into leaf- 
like borders, or to other organs having membranous ex- 
pansions: opposed to apterous, (b) In conch., having an 
expanded lip: applied to shells. See cut under Aporrhaida. 
2. In arch., having wings, as a building: as, 
"an alate temple," Stukeley, Pala?ographia Sacra 
(1763), p. 73. 
a latere (a lat'e-re). [L., from the side : a for 
ab, from ; latere, abl. of latus, side: see lateral.] 
From the side ; from beside a person : used in 
the phrase legate a latere. See legate. 
