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Any combination or compound of metals fused together; a mixture of metals; for example, brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc. But when mercury is one of the metals, the compound is called an amalgam.

on. These speeches . . . do seem to allude unto such ministerial garments as were then in use. Hooker.

of earth, sand, gravel, and other transported matter, made by rivers, floods, or other causes, upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes or seas. Lyell.

A bark canoe used by the Africans.

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.

book, containing astronomical calculations (lunar, stellar, etc.), and other information useful to mariners.

A kind of furnace used in refining, to separate the metal from cinders and other foreign matter. Chambers.

One who distributes alms, esp. the doles and alms of religious houses, almshouses, etc.; also, one who dispenses alms for another, as the almoner of a prince, bishop, etc.

haic] 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.

The inspissated juice of several species of aloe, used as a purgative. [Plural in form but syntactically singular.] American aloe, Century aloe, the agave. See Agave.

A curved wooden horn about three feet long, with a cupped mouthpiece and a bell, used by the Swiss to sound the ranz des vaches and other melodies. Its notes are open harmonics of the tube.

A long staff, pointed with iron, used in climbing the Alps. Cheever.

The first letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to A, and hence used to denote the beginning. In am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. xxii. 13.

A crystalline derivative of salicylic acid, used as an antiseptic and antirheumatic.

The seed of canary grass (Phalaris Canariensis), used for feeding cage birds.

A lead ore found in Cornwall, England, and used by potters to give a green glaze to their wares; potter's ore.

To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly. The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil. Grew.

The course of action or the thing offered in place of another. If this demand is refused the alternative is war. Lewis. With no alternative but death. Longfellow.

An instrument of the saxhorn family, used exclusively in military music, often replacing the French horn. Grove.

An instrument of the saxhorn family, used exclusively in military music, often replacing the French horn. Grove.