ALBION. An early name of England, from the whiteness of the eastern coast cliffs.
ALBURNUM. The sap-wood of timber, commonly termed the slab-cuts.
ALCAID. A governor, or officer of justice, amongst the Moors, Spaniards, and Portuguese.
ALCATRAZ. The pelican. Alcatraz Island is situated in the mouth of the river San Francisco, in California, so named from its being covered with these birds. Also Alcatraz on the coast of Africa, from Pelecanus sula—booby. Columbus mentions the alcatraz when nearing America, and Drayton says—
"Most like to that sharp-sighted alcatras,
That beats the air above the liquid glass."
ALDEBARAN. The lucida of Taurus, the well-known nautical star, popularly called Bull's-eye.
A-LEE. The contrary of a-weather: the position of the helm when its tiller is borne over to the lee-side of the ship, in order to go about or put her head to windward.—Hard a-lee! or luff a-lee! is said to the steersman to put the helm down.—Helm's a-lee! the word of command given on putting the helm down, and causing the head-sails to shake in the wind.
ALEMAYNE. The early name for Germany.
ALERT. On the look-out, and ready for any sudden duty. Nearly synonymous with alarm. Alerto—called frequently by Spanish sentinels.
ALEWIFE. The Clupea alosa, a fish of the herring kind, which appears in the Philosophical Transactions for 1678, as the aloofe; the corruption therefore was a ready one.