Definition of "atlas" []

• A book or bound collection of maps, sometimes with supplementary illustrations and graphic analyses. (noun)
• A volume of tables, charts, or plates that systematically illustrates a particular subject: an anatomical atlas. (noun)
• A large size of drawing paper, measuring 26 × 33 or 26 × 34 inches. (noun)
• Architecture A standing or kneeling figure of a man used as a supporting column, as for an entablature or balcony. (noun)
• Anatomy The top or first cervical vertebra of the neck, which supports the skull. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This atlas is an interactive mosaic of 14 aerial photographs of the Necropolis from 1979."
• "You flex the head forward as far as it will go, then you push a broad needle or a thin scalpel into what we call the atlas, the first cervical vertebra."
• "The volume was painstakingly compiled by hand in the 16th century by Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator, the man believed to have coined the term "atlas" for a collection of maps."