Forms: 4 almykantera, almicantera, 6 -ath, 7 almucanturie, almicantarath, 6–8 almicanter, 8 almicanther, 7–8 almucantar, 7–9 almacanter, -ar. [a. Fr. almicantarat or almucantarat, also med.L. almi-, almucantarath; ad. Arab. almuqanṭarāt, pl. (with article) of muqanṭarah (cited by Golius in sense of ‘sundial’), deriv. of qanţarah, a bridge, an arch.] pl. Small circles of the sphere parallel to the horizon, cutting the meridian at equal distances; parallels of altitude. (The horizon itself was reckoned the first almacantar.)
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 5. The almykanteras in thin astrelabie ben compownet by two & two, where-as some Almykanteras in sondri Astrelabies ben compownet by on and on.
1594. Davis, Seamans Secr., II. (1607), 8. Almicanters are circles of altitude … and are described upon the Zenith.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., III. I. xix. (ed. 7), 320. The first Almicanterath is the very oblique Horizon it selfe.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Bloody Bro., IV. ii. Look upon the Astrolabe; you’ll find it Four almucanturies at least.
1672. Strode, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), II. 441. The sun’s almacanters delineated on an horizontal dial are hyperbolas, except when the sun is in the equator.
1768. Smeaton, in Phil. Trans., LVIII. 170. To describe an almicanther and azimuth circle.
1783. Martyn, Geog. Mag., I. Introd. 37. Almicanters are parallels of altitude.
1837. Whewell, Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 178. The circles of the spheres termed almacantars and azimuth circles.
1880. S. Chandler, in Sci. Observ., III. No. 5. 36. I propose to call the instrument [for the determination of time and latitude] the ‘Almacantar,’ from an Arabic astronomical term, now obsolete in its general use.
Comb. almacantar-staff. (See quot.)
1706. Phillips, Almacantar-staff, a Mathematical Instrument usually made of Box or Pear-tree, with an Arch of 15 Degrees, to take Observations of the Sun at the times of its Rising and Setting; in order to find the Amplitude, and consequently the Variation of the Compass.
1876. Chambers, Astron., 91. Almacantar Staff, an instrument formerly used for determining the amplitude of an object.
