Alqui'fe (3 syl.), a famous enchanter in Amadis of Gaul, by Vasco de Lobeira, of Oporto, who died 1403.
La Noue denounces such beneficent enchanters as Alquife and Urganda, because they serve "as a vindication of those who traffic with the powers of darkness."—Francis de la Noue, Discourses, 87 (1587).
Alrinach, the demon who causes shipwrecks, and presides over storms and earthquakes. When visible it is always in the form and dress of a woman.—Eastern Mythology.
Alscrip (Miss), "the heiress," a vulgar parvenue, affected, conceited, ill-natured, and ignorant. Having had a fortune left her, she assumes the airs of a woman of fashion, and exhibits the follies without possessing the merits of the upper ten.
Mr. Alscrip, the vulgar father of "the heiress," who finds the grandeur of sudden wealth a great bore, and in his new mansion, Berkeley Square, sighs for the snug comforts he once enjoyed as scrivener in Furnival's Inn.—General Burgoyne, The Heiress (1781).
Al'tamont, a young Genoese lord, who marries Calista, daughter of lord Sciol'to (3 syl). On his wedding day he discovers that his bride has been seduced by Lotha'rio, and a duel ensues, in which Lothario is killed, whereupon Calista stabs herself.—N. Rowe, The Fair Penitent (1703). (Rowe makes Sciolto three syllables always.)
Altamo'rus, king of Samarcand', who joined the Egyptian armament against the crusaders. He surrendered himself to Godfrey (bk. xx.).—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).
Altascar (Señor). A courtly old Spaniard in Bret Harte's Notes by Flood and Field. He is dispossessed of his corral in the Sacramento Valley by a party of government surveyors, who have come to correct boundaries (1878).
Altemera. Typical far-southern girl, with a lovely face, creamy skin, and a "lazy sweet voice," who takes the leading part in Annie Eliot's An Hour's Promise (1888).
Althaea's Brand. The Fates told Althaea that her son Melea'ger would live just as long as a log of wood then on the fire remained unconsumed. Althaea contrived to keep the log unconsumed for many years, but when her son killed her two brothers, she threw it angrily into the fire, where it was quickly consumed, and Meleager expired at the same time.—Ovid, Metaph. viii. 4.