- pronunciation:
- aet
lihs
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition: |
An atlas is a book of maps, tables, or charts.
Leo's dad is studying his atlas to find all the small lakes near where he and Leo are going to go camping. |
Greek mythology tells of a giant whose punishment was to hold up the universe on his shoulders. This giant's name was
Atlas. Artists drew pictures of Atlas holding up a globe that was meant to be the heavens. In the 1600s, a mapmaker named Mercator used such a picture on the cover of his book of maps. A collection of maps became known as an "atlas."