■ noun
1》 a book of maps or charts.
2》 Anatomy the topmost vertebra of the backbone, articulating with the occipital bone of the skull.
3》 ( plural atlantes at'lanti:z ) Architecture a stone carving of a male figure, used as a column to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.
Origin
C16: via L. from Gk Atlas , the Greek god who held up the pillars of the universe, whose picture appeared at the front of early ~es.