1712.—In the Spectator of this year are advertised "a purple and gold Atlas gown" and "a scarlet and gold Atlas petticoat edged with silver."—Cited in Malcolm's Anecdotes (1808), 429.
1727.—"They are exquisite in the Weaver's Trade and Embroidery, which may be seen in the rich Atlasses ... made by them."—A. Hamilton, i. 160.
c. 1750-60.—"The most considerable (manufacture) is that of their atlasses or satin flowered with gold and silver."—Grose, i. 117.
Note.—I saw not long ago in India a Polish Jew who was called Jacob Atlas, and he explained to me that when the Jews (about 1800) were forced to assume surnames, this was assigned to his grandfather, because he wore a black satin gaberdine!—(A. B. 1879.)
ATOLL, s. A group of coral islands forming a ring or chaplet, sometimes of many miles in diameter, inclosing a space of comparatively shallow water, each of the islands being on the same type as the atoll. We derive the expression from the Maldive islands, which are the typical examples of this structure, and where the form of the word is atoḷu. [P. de Laval (Hak. Soc. i. 93) states that the provinces in the Maldives were known as Atollon.] It is probably connected with the Singhalese ätul, 'inside'; [or etula, as Mr Gray (P. de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 94) writes the word. The Mad. Admin. Man. in the Glossary gives Malayāl. attālam, 'a sinking reef']. The term was made a scientific one by Darwin in his publication on Coral Reefs (see below), but our second quotation shows that it had been generalised at an earlier date.
c. 1610.—"Estant au milieu d'vn Atollon, vous voyez autour de vous ce grand banc de pierre que jay dit, qui environne et qui defend les isles contre l'impetuosité de la mer."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 71 (ed. 1679); [Hak. Soc. i. 94].
1732.—"Atollon, a name applied to such a place in the sea as exhibits a heap of little islands lying close together, and almost hanging on to each other."—Zeidler's (German) Universal Lexicon, s.v.
1842.—"I have invariably used in this volume the term atoll, which is the name given to these circular groups of coral islets by their inhabitants in the Indian Ocean, and is synonymous with 'lagoon-island.'"—Darwin, The Structure, &c., of Coral Reefs, 2.
AUMIL, s. Ar. and thence H. 'āmil (noun of agency from 'amal, 'he performed a task or office,' therefore 'an agent'). Under the native governments a collector of Revenue; also a farmer of the Revenue invested with chief authority in his District. Also
AUMILDAR. Properly 'amaldār, 'one holding office'; (Ar. 'amal, 'work,' with P. term of agency). A factor or manager. Among the Mahrattas the 'Amaldār was a collector of revenue under varying conditions—(See details in Wilson). The term is now limited to Mysore and a few other parts of India, and does not belong to the standard system of any Presidency. The word in the following passage looks as if intended for 'amaldār, though there is a term Māldār, 'the holder of property.'