ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who
have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they
cannot separately plunder a third.
ALLIGATOR, n. The crocodile of America, superior in every respect to the
crocodile of the effete monarchies of the Old World. Herodotus says the
Indus is, with one exception, the only river that produces crocodiles,
but they appear to have gone West and grown up with the other rivers.
From the notches on his back the alligator is called a sawrian.
ALONE, adj. In bad company.
In contact, lo! the flint and steel,
By spark and flame, the thought reveal
That he the metal, she the stone,
Had cherished secretly alone.
Booley Fito.
ALTAR, n. The place whereon the priest formerly ravelled out the small
intestine of the sacrificial victim for purposes of divination and
cooked its flesh for the gods. The word is now seldom used, except with
reference to the sacrifice of their liberty and peace by a male and a
female fool.
They stood before the altar and supplied
The fire themselves in which their fat was fried.
In vain the sacrifice!--no god will claim
An offering burnt with an unholy flame.