pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
ALME, or Alma, singing and dancing girls in Egypt, who, like the Italian lmprovisatori, can occasionally pour forth “unpremeditated verse.” They are called Alme i from having received a better education than other women. They form a celebrated society in that country. To be received into it, according to Μ. Savary, it is necessary to have a good voice, to understand the language well, to know the rules of poetry, and be able to compose and sing couplets on the spot, adapted to the circumstances. The Almé know by heart all the new songs. Their memory is furnished with the most beautiful tales. There is no festival without them, no entertainment of which they do not constitute the ornament. They are placed in a rostrum, from whence they sing during the repast. They then descend into the saloon, and form dances which have no resemblance to ours. They are pantomime ballets, in which they represent the usual occurrences of life. The mysteries of love, too, generally furnish them with scenes. The suppleness of their bodies is inconceivable. One is astonished at the mobility of their features, to which they give at pleasure the impression suited to the characters they play. The indecency of their attitudes is often carried to excess.
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The common people have also their Almé. They are girls of the second class, who try to imitate the former; but they have neither their elegance, their graces, nor their knowledge. They are everywhere to be met with. The public places and the walks about Grand Cairo are full of them. As the populace require allusions still more strongly marked, decency forbids us to relate the licentiousness of their gestures and attitudes.
ALMEHRAB, in the Mahometan customs, a niche in their mosques, pointing towards the kebla or temple of Mecca, to which they are obliged to bow in praying.
ALMEIDA, a strong fortress of Portugal, in the province of Beira. It is situated between the rivers Coa and the Duas Casas, which forms a branch of the Agueda. The capture of it by the duke of Wellington, after it had fallen into the hands of the French, was deemed one of the most brilliant exploits of the peninsular war. It is about four leagues from the Spanish fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo. It is well fortified, though till the late war it was not considered so important as it was then deemed. The Spanish engineers did not estimate it as a defence to Lisbon, but merely covering the province of Beira, into which, according to their judgment, a Spanish army ought never to attempt to penetrate. This place contains 550 houses, 2750 inhabitants, an hospital, one monastery, one church, and a poor-house.
ALMEISAR, a celebrated game among the ancient Arabs, performed by a kind of casting of lots with arrows, strictly forbidden by the law of Mahomet, on account of the frequent quarrels occasioned by it. The manner of the game was thus: A young camel being brought and killed, was divided into a number of parts. The adventurers, to the number of eleven, being met, eleven arrows were provided without heads or feathers; seven of which were marked, the first with one notch, the second with two, the third with three, &c.; the other four had no marks. These arrows were put promiscuously into a bag, and thus drawn by an indifferent person. Those to whom the marked arrows fell, won shares in proportion to their lot; the rest, to whom the blanks fell, were entitled to no part of the camel, but obliged to pay the whole price of it. Even the winners tasted not of the flesh themselves more than the losers, but the whole was distributed among the poor.
ALMELO, an arrondissement containing six cantons and 57,241 inhabitants, in the province of Overyssel, in the Netherlands.

Almelo, a city, the capital of the circle of the same name in Holland. It contains 4662 inhabitants, subsisting chiefly by different branches of the linen manufacture.
ALMENE, in Commerce, a Weight of two pounds, used to weigh saffron in several parts of the continent of the East Indies.
ALMERIA, a city of Spain, in the province of Granada, in Andalusia. It is situated on a rocky promontory hear Cape de Gat, and from the strength of the port was deemed by the Moorish kings of Granada the most valuable of their fortresses and commercial ports; from whence their cruisers overawed the Catalans and Italians, and the merchants conveyed their various merchandise to Africa, Egypt, and Syria. In its vicinity are found sapphires, cornelians, jaspers, agates, and other precious stones. Near it is the Sierra de Gador, a most enormous mass of marble, whose top rises above the level of the sea to the height of more than 7500 feet, and is covered with snow three quarters of the year. Almeria is the see of a bishop, and has a splendid cathedral. This place contains 7200 inhabitants. There are here manufactories of tar and saltpetre. Long. 1. 44. 54. W. Lat. 36. 51. N.
ALMEYDA, Don Francis, was the son of the count d’Abrantes, a grandee of Portugal, who served with great distinction in the war of Ferdinand of Castile with Granada; and in consequence of his important services he became highly esteemed in the court of his sovereign. Without any solicitation on his part he was nominated* the first governor-general and viceroy of the newly conquered countries in the East Indies, and set sail from Lisbon in March 1505-6 with a powerful fleet. To give dignity and influence to his elevated station, a body of guards was appointed to attend his person, several chaplains were assigned to him, together with every other appendage of grandeur. He touched at the Cape Verde islands, doubled the cape at a considerable distance to the south, and arrived at Guiloa. From thence he proceeded to Mombaza, a well-fortified city in an island, which he reduced, and proceeded to the Angediva islands, not far from Goa, where he built a fort: he likewise erected and garrisoned another fort at Cananore, and arriving at Cochin, he secured it to the Portuguese interest. The island of Madagascar was discovered during his government; and his son Don Lorenzo first surveyed the Maidive islands, and about the same time discovered the fine island of Ceylon, the principal sovereign of which he brought under submission to the crown of Portugal. Returning from this expedition, while employed in the fleet destined against Calicut, he lost his life in a sea-fight against the Zamorin. His father sustained his loss with an heroic firmness, saying that “Lorenzo could not diejbetter than in the service of his country.” On the arrival of Alphonso d’Albuquerque, who was destined to be his successor, Almeyda yielded to the impressions of jealousy; and under the pretence of misconduct he confined him in the citadel of Cananore. He engaged in 1508 the whole force of the Mahometans in the port of Diu; and, gaining a complete victory, facilitated the enterprises of Albuquerque his successor, by contributing to break that formidable league by which the Zamorin was in hopes of being able to compel the Portuguese to abandon their Indian conquests. Returning home with the great riches which he had acquired, he unfortunately touched at Saldanha Point, on the coast of Africa, where some of the sailors, in quest of water, quarrelled with the natives, who attacked and drove them to their ships. With a view to revenge this pretended affront, they persuaded Almeydá himself to go ashore, with a body of 150 men, armed only with swords and lances. While stepping into the boat, Almeyda exclaimed, “Whither do you carry my 60 years ?” The Portuguese furiously rushed on to attack the natives, whose numbers were greatly augmented; and Almeyda, with fifty-seven of his men, was killed in this rash and unprovoked attempt.
ALMIGGIM. See Almuggim.
ALMISSA, a small but strong town at the mouth of the Cetina, in Dalmatia, famous for its piracies; 16 miles east of Spalatro. Long. 18. 14. E. Lat. 43. 56. N.
ALMONBURY, a township of the wapentake of Ay-brig, in the west riding of the county of York. It is situated on the river Calder, and had formerly a cathedral and a strong castle. It is 186 miles distant from London, in a manufacturing district near Huddersfield. The population in 1801 was 3751; in 1811, 4613; and in 1821, 5679. The whole parish of Almonbury, which includes other townships, contained, in 1821, 23,171 inhabitants.
ALMOND, in Commerce, a measure by which the Portuguese sell their oil: 26 almonds make a pipe.

Almonds, in Anatomy, a name sometimes given to two glands, generally called the tonsils. Almonds, among lapidaries, signify pieces of rock-crystal, used in adorning branch-candlesticks, &c., on account of the resemblance they bear to the fruit of that name.
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ALMOND Furnace, among refiners, that in which the slags of litharge, left in refining silver, arc reduced to lead again by the help of charcoal.
ALMONER, in its primitive sense, denotes an officer in religious houses, to whom belonged the management and distribution of the alms of the house. By the ancient canons, all monasteries were to spend at least a tenth part of their income in alms to the poor. The almoner of St Paul’s is to dispose of the moneys left for charity, according to the appointment of the donors, to bury the poor who die in the neighbourhood, and to breed up eight boys to singing, for the use of the choir. By an ancient canon, all bishops are required to keep almoners.

Lord ALMONER, or Lord High ALMONER of England, is an ecclesiastical officer, generally a bishop, who has the. forfeiture of all deodands, and the goods of felos de se, which he is to distribute among the poor. He has also, by virtue of an ancient custom, the power of giving the first dish from the king’s table to whatever poor person he pleases, or, instead of it, an alms in money.
ALMORAH, a small but very curious and interesting town of Hindostan, the modern capital of the province of Kumaon. It is built on a ridge of the Himalaya Mountains, 5337 feet above the level of the sea, and consists chiefly of a single street, about three fourths of a mile long, and about 50 feet wide, which runs along the ridge of the mountain, with scattered 'dwellings, chiefly inhabited by Europeans, to the right and left hand on the descent of the hill. The main street has a gate at each end; and Bishop Heber mentions that it reminded him, on a small scale, of Chester. The houses all stand on a lower story of stone, where the shops are. This is open in front, while the upper stories are faced with a framework of wood, occasionally carved and painted, supported on the projecting side-walls below,' and surmounted by a sloping roof of heavy grey slate, on which many of the inhabitants pile up their hay in small stacks, as winter provender for their cattle. The town is very neat, and the street has a natural pavement of slaty rock, which is kept beautifully clean. It is very strongly situated, and is approached by a long, steep, and winding road, which a handful of men might defend against an army. From Almorah the vast range of the Himalaya Mountains bounds the prospect to the north. Nundidevi, one of the highest peaks in the world, being 25,689 feet above the level of the sea, is within 40 miles from Almorah in a direct line, though it ís a nine days’ journey by the only accessible road, through the mountains. Almorah was conquered in 1790 by the Ghorkhas, who were favoured by the dissensions of the people. It was taken from them by the British in 1815; and in this more recent conquest the inhabitants were also aiding, owing to the cruel treatment they had received from their former masters, who were in the habit of selling, for arrears of rent, the wives and’children of the peasants into slavery. There is an old Ghorkha citadel, which stands on a commanding point of the ridge, at the eastern extremity; and several maftello towers hâve been erected in peaks to the eastward. A new citadel, named Fort Moira, has been constructed on a small eminence at the western extremity of the town. It is, according to Bishop Heber, very ill contrived, and incapable of defence against a resolute enemy. The surrounding country is of a bleak and desolate character, and there is scarcely a tree Within a circuit of four miles from the walls. The number of houses is about 1000. Almorah is 90 miles north by east from’ the city of Bareilly, and about 106 miles travelling distance north-east from Moradabad, by the route of the Bamorce Pass and Rampour. Long. 79. 44. E. Lat. 29. 35. N. (Heber’s Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, &c.; Hamilton’s East India Gazetteer.') ( f .)
ALMS, a general term for what is given out of charity to the poor. In the early ages of Christianity, the alms of the charitable were divided into four parts; one of which was allotted to the bishop, another to the priests, and a third to the deacons and subdeacons, which formed their whole means of subsistence; the fourth part was employed in relieving the poor, and in repairing the churches. No religious system is more frequent or warm in its exhortations to almsgiving than the Mahometan. The Koran represents alms as a necessary means to make prayer be heard. Hence that saying of one of their ca-iphs: “Prayer carries us half-way to God, fasting brings us to the door of his palace, and alms introduces us into the presence-chamber.” Hence many illustrious examples of this virtue among the Mahometans.

Alms also denotes lands or other effects left to churches or religious houses, on condition of praying for the soul of the donor. Hence Free Alms, that which is liable to no rent or service.

Reasonable Alms, a certain portion of the estates of intestate persons, allotted to the poor.

Alms Box or Chest, a small chest or coffer, called by the Greeks K/ĉar/oµ, wherein anciently the alms were collected, both at church and at private houses.

The alms-chest, in English churches, is a strong box, with a hole in the upper part, having three keys, one to be kept by the parson or curate, the other two by the church-wardens. The erecting of such alms-chest in eVery church is enjoined by the book of canons, as also the manner of distributing what is thus collected among the poor of the parish.
ALMUCANTARS, in Astronomy, an Arabic word, denoting circles of the sphere passing through the centre of the sun or à star, parallel to the horizon, being the same as Parallels of Altitude. Almucantar’s Staff is an instrument usually made of pear-tree or box, having an arch of 15 degrees; used to take observations of the sun, about the time of its rising and setting, in order to find the amplitude, and consequently the variation of the compass.
ALMUCIUM denotes a kind of cover for the head, worn chiefly by monks and ecclesiastics. It was of a square form, and seems to have given rise to the bonnets of the same shape still retained in universities and cathedrals.
ALMUGGIM, Almiggim, or Almug Tree, a certain kind of wood mentioned in the first book of Kings (x. 11), which the Vulgate translates ligna thyina, and the Septuagint wrought wood. The Rabbins generally render it coral; others, ebony, brazil, or pine. But it is observed, that the almug tree can by no means be coral, because that is not fit for the purposes for which the Scripture tells us the almug tree was used, such as musical instruments, staircases, &c. The word thyinum is a name for the citron tree, known to the ancients, and very much esteemed for its sweet odour and great beauty. It came from Mauritania. The almug tree, or almuggim, dr simply gummim, taking αl for a kind of article, is therefore, by the best commentators, understood to be an oily and gummy sort of wood, and particularly that sort of tree which produces the gum ammoniac, which is also thought to be the same with the shittim wood so frequently mentioned by Moses.

ALMünECAR, a small city of the province of Granada, in Spain. The soil around it is productive of all the tropical vegetables. Sugar-canes grow as large and as juicy as in the West Indies, the cotton is of excellent quality, and the rum made here is deemed equal to that of Jamaica. The harbour is good, and the entrance well defended; but during the long war, lately terminated, its principal capital was employed in the productions which America, in peace, usually furnishes to Spain. It contains 2100 inhabitants. Long. 3. 54. W. Lat. 36. 42. N
ALNAGE, or Aulnage, the measuring of woollen manufactures with an ell. It was at first intended as a proof of the goodness of that commodity; and accordingly a seal was invented as a mark that the commodity was made according to statute.
ALNAGER, Alneger, or Aulneger, signifies a sworn public officer, who, by himself or deputy, was to look to the assize of woollen cloth made throughout the land, «. e. the length, width, and work thereof; and to the seals for that purpose ordained. The office of king’s alnager seems to have been derived from the statute of Richard I. A. D. 1197, which ordained that there should be only one weight and one measure throughout the kingdom; and that the custody of the assize or standard of weights and measures should be committed to certain persons in every city and borough. His business was, for a certain fee, to measure all cloths made for sale, till the office was abolished by statute 11 and 12 William III. cap. 20.
ALNWICK, a thoroughfare town in Northumberland, on the road to Scotland. Here Malcolm, king of Scotland, making an inroad into Northumberland, was killed, with Edward his son, and his army defeated, by Robert Moubray, earl of this county, anno 1093. Likewise William, king of Scotland, in 1174, invading England with an army of 80,000 men, was here encountered, his army routed, and himself made prisoner. The town is populous, and in general well built; it has a large town-house, where the quarter-sessions and county-courts are held, and members of parliament elected. It has a spacious square, in which a market is held every Saturday. From the vestiges of a wall still visible in many parts, and three gates which remain almost entire, Alnwick appears to have been formerly fortified. It is governed by four chamberlains, who are chosen once in two years out of a common council, consisting of 24 members. It is ornament-, ed by a stately old Gothic castle, the seat of the noble family of Percy, earls of Northumberland. As the audits for receipt of rents have ever been in the castle, it has always been kept in tolerable repair; and not many years ago it was repaired and beautified by the duke of Northumberland, who made very considerable alterations, upon a most elegant plan, with a view to reside in it during a part of the summer season. The manner of making freemen is peculiar to this place, arid indeed is. as ridiculous as singular. The persons who are to be made free, or, as the phrase is,, leap the well, assemble in the marketplace, very early in the morning, on the 25th of April, being St Mark’s day. They appear on horseback, with every man his sword by his side, dressed in white, and with white nightcaps, attended by the four chamberlains and the castle bailiff, mounted and armed in the same: manner. From hence they proceed, with music playing before them, to a large dirty pool called Freemans Well, where they dismount, and draw up in a body, at some distance from the water; and then rush into it all at once, and scramble through the mud as fast as they can. As the water is generally very foul, they come out in a dirty condition; but, taking a dram, they put on dry clothes, remount their horses, and ride at full gallop round the confines of the district; then re-enter the town, sword in hand, and are met by women dressed in ribbons, with bells and garlands, dancing and singing. They are called timber-wasts. The houses of the hew freemen are on this day distinguished by a great holly bush, as a signal for their friends to assemble and make merry with them after their [7:2:538]return. This ceremony is owing to King John, who was mired in this well, and who, as a punishment for not mending the road, made this a part of their charter. Alnwick is 310 miles north by west from London, 33 north of Newcastle, and 29 south of f Berwick. Long. 1.10. W. Lat. 55. 24. N. In 1801 the population was 4719; in 1811, 5426; and in 1821, 5927.
ALOA, in Grecian Antiquity, a festival kept in honour of Ceres by the husbandmen, and supposed to resemble our harvest-home.
ALOGIANS, in Church History, a sect of ancient heretics, who denied that Jesus Christ was the Logos, and consequently rejected the gospel of St John. The word is compounded of the privative α, and aoyoς, q. d. without Logos or Word. Some ascribe the origin of the name, as well as of the sect of Alogians, to Theodore of Byzantium, by trade a currier; who having apostatized under the persecution of the emperor Severus, to defend himself against those who reproached him therewith, said, that it was not God he denied, but only man. Whence his followers were called in Greek αλoyo∕, because they rejected the Word. But others, with more probability, Suppose the name to have been first given them by Epiphanius in the way of reproach. They made their appearance toward the close of the second century.
ALOGOTROPHIA, among physicians, a term signifying the unequal growth or nourishment of any part of the body, as in the rickets.
ALOOF has frequently been mentioned as a sea-term; but whether justly or not, we shall not presume to determine. It is known ⅛ common discourse to imply at a distance ; and the resemblance of the phrases keep aloof, and keep a luff, or keep the. luff. in all probability gave rise to the conjecture. If it was really a sea-phrase originally, it seems to have referred to the dangers of a lee-shore, in which situation the pilot might naturally apply it in the sense commonly understood, viz. keep all off, or quite off: it is, however, never expressed, iń that manner by seamen now. ∙ ,r. , ,
ALOPECIA, a term used among physicians to denote a total falling off of the hair from certain parts, occasioned either by the defect of nutritious juice, or by its vitious quality corroding the roots of it, and leaving the skin rough and colourless. The word is formed from αλωτηξ, vulpes, a fox, whose urine, it is said, will occasion baldness, or because it is a disease which is common to that creature.
ALOST, a city on the river Dender, between Ghent and Brussels, in the kingdom of the Netherlands. It contains 12,150 inhabitants, who carry on, by means of the river, a great trade in corn, hops, and beer, and conduct some linen and lace manufactories. Long. 0. 4. E. Lat. 50. 57. N. »
ALPHAENIX, white barley-sugar, to which is given an extraordinary name, to render it more valuable. This, which is thought good for colds, is made of common sugar, boiled until it becomes easy to crack, when it is poured upon a marble table, greased with oil of sweet almonds, and moulded into various figures with a brass crotchet. It is easily falsified with starch.