ALARM n.
watch, a clock or watch which can be so set as to ring or strike loudly at a prearranged hour, to wake from sleep, or excite attention. -- Alarm gauge, a contrivance attached to a steam boiler for showing when the pressure of steam is too high, or the water in the boiler too low. -- Alarm post, a place to which troo…
ALMANAC n.
e often added, such as the times of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals of churches, terms of courts, etc. Nautical almanac, an almanac, or year book, containing astronomical calculations (lunar, stellar, etc.), and other information useful to mariners.…
AN n.
d signifies one, or any, but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, every.