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A magistrate in ancient Rome, who had the superintendence of public buildings, highways, shows, etc.; hence, a municipal officer.

A second game; hence, a subsequent scheme or expedient. Wotton. Aftergame at Irish, an ancient game very nearly resembling backgammon. Beau. & Fl.

Applied to a kind of variegated glass beads of ancient manufacture; as, aggry beads are found in Ashantee and Fantee in Africa.

An assembly; hence, the place of assembly, especially the market place, in an ancient Greek city.

The Evil Principle or Being of the ancient Persians; the Prince of Darkness as opposer to Ormuzd, the King of Light.

An ancient name of England, still retained in poetry. In that nook-shotten isle of Albion. Shak.

ch contains nearly all that is known of the astronomical observations and theories of the ancients. The name was extended to other similar works.

A fine, deep red ocher, somewhat purplish, found in Spain. It is the sil atticum of the ancients. Under the name of Indian red it is used for polishing glass and silver.

he same almucantar have the same altitude. See Almacantar. [Archaic] Almucanter staff, an ancient instrument, having an arc of fifteen degrees, formerly used at sea to take observations of the sun's amplitude at the time of its rising or setting, to find the variation of the compass.

One of an ancient sect who rejected St. John's Gospel and the Apocalypse, which speak of Christ as the Logos. Shipley.

An earth abounding in pyrites, used by the ancients to kill insects, etc., on vines; -- applied by Brongniart to a carbonaceous alum schist.

A kind of figured stone, rugged and beset with eminences, anciently used in divination. [Obs.] Encyc. Brit.

Deputies from the confederated states of ancient Greece to a congress or council. They considered both political and religious matters.

A league of states of ancient Greece; esp. the celebrated confederation known as the Amphictyonic Council. Its object was to maintain the common interests of Greece.

Among the ancients, a two-handled vessel, tapering at the bottom, used for holding wine, oil, etc.

An ancient gold coin of England, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael. It varied in value from 6s. 8d. to 10s. Amer. Cyc.

ker. The union of womanly tenderness and angelic patience. Macaulay. Angelic Hymn, a very ancient hymn of the Christian Church; -- so called from its beginning with the song of the heavenly host recorded in Luke ii. 14. Eadie.

An ancient Low German tribe, that settled in Britain, which came to be called Engla-land (Angleland or England). The Angles probably came from the district of Angeln (now within the limits of Schleswig), and the country now Lower Hanover, etc.

The first year's profits of a spiritual preferment, anciently paid by the clergy to the pope; first fruits. In England, they now form a fund for the augmentation of poor livings.

te, added by way of comment, or explanation; -- usually in the plural; as, annotations on ancient authors, or on a word or a passage.