Aveiro (a˙-vā´i-ru¨), a coast town in Portugal, province of Douro, with a cathedral, an active fishery, and a thriving trade. Pop. 11,523.
Avellino (a˙-vel-lē´nō), a town in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Avellino, 29 miles east of Naples, the seat of a bishop. Avellino nuts were celebrated under the Romans. Pop. 24,620. Area of the province, 1165 sq. miles; pop. 411,813.
A´ve Mari´a ('Hail, Mary'), the first two words of the angel Gabriel's salutation (Luke, i, 28), and the beginning of the very common Latin prayer to the Virgin in the Roman Catholic Church. Its lay use was sanctioned at the end of the twelfth century, and a papal edict of 1326 ordains the repetition of the prayer thrice each morning, noon, and evening, the hour being indicated by sound of bells called the Ave Maria or Angelus Domini. The prayers are counted upon the small beads of the rosary, as the pater-nosters are upon the large ones.
Ave´na. See Oat.
Av´ens, the English name of two rosaceous plants of the genus Geum. Common avens, or herb-bennet, G. urbānum, possesses astringent properties, and was formerly used in medicine. The mountain avens, Dryas octopetala, belongs to the same nat. ord.
Av´entaile, the movable face-guard of the helmet, through which the wearer breathed.
Av´entine, one of the seven hills of Rome, east of the Tiber. It was included in the city by Servius Tullius.
Aven´turine. See Avanturine.
Av´erage, in maritime law, any charge or expense over and above the freight of goods, and payable by their owner.—General average is the sum falling to be paid by the owners of ship, cargo, and freight, in proportion to their several interests, to make good any loss or expense intentionally incurred for the general safety of ship and cargo, e.g. throwing goods overboard, cutting away masts, port dues in cases of distress, &c.—Particular average is the sum falling to be paid for unavoidable loss when the general safety is not in question, and therefore chargeable on the individual owner of the property lost. A policy of insurance generally covers both general and particular average, unless specially excepted.—Averaging, in Stock Exchange language, denotes the operation of a speculator in increasing transactions at a higher or lower price when the price is moving against him, so that the average price of the whole will be higher or lower than his original purchase or sale.
Aver´nus, a lake, now called Lago d'Averno, in Campania, Italy, between the ancient Cumæ and Puteoli, about 8 miles from Naples. It is the crater of an old volcano, and is in some places 180 feet deep. Formerly the gloom of its forest surroundings and its mephitic exhalations caused it to be regarded as the entrance to the infernal regions. It was the fabled abode of the Cimmerians, and especially dedicated to Proserpine.