atlases

Noun

atlas (plural atlases or atlantes)

1. A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
2. A bound collection of tables, illustrations, etc. on any given subject.
3. (especially) A detailed visual conspectus of something of great and multi-faceted complexity, with its elements splayed so as to be presented in as discrete a manner as possible whilst retaining a realistic view of the whole.
   • An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs1904: Eugène Collin, An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs, main title (J. & A. Churchill)
4. (differential geometry) A family of coordinate charts that cover a manifold.
5. The uppermost vertebra of the cervical spine in the neck in humans and some other animals.
   • There are of these glands upon the first vertebra of the neck of the atlas; on which the head turns[…]1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, part II, page 58

   Synonyms:

   atlanto-, atlo-

6. One who supports a heavy burden; mainstay.

See all 24 meanings of atlas