ANTECIANS. Those inhabitants of the earth who live under the same meridian, but in opposite hemispheres. (_See_ ANTISCII.) ANTE LUCAN. Before daylight. ANTE MERIDIAN. Before noon. ANTE MURAL. _See_ OUTWORKS. ANTHELION. A mock or spurious sun; a luminous meteor, resembling, but usually larger than, the solar disc. ANTHRACITE. [Gr. _anthrax_ and _lithos_.] A stone coal demanding great draught to burn, affording great heat, little smoke, and peculiarly adapted for steamers. ANTICHTHONES. The inhabitants of countries diametrically opposite to each other. ANTI-GALLICANS. A pair of extra backstays, sometimes used by merchantmen, to support the masts when running before the trades. ANTI-GUGGLER. A straw, or crooked tube, introduced into a spirit cask or neck of a bottle, to suck out the contents; commonly used in 1800 to rob the captain's steward's hanging safe in hot climates. Is to be found in old dictionaries. ANTILOGARITHM. The complement of the logarithm of a sine, tangent, or secant. ANTIPARALLELS. Those lines which make equal angles with two other lines, but contrary ways. ANTIPATHES. A kind of coral having a black horny stem. ANTIPODES. Such inhabitants of the earth as are diametrically opposite to each other. From the people, the term has passed to the places themselves, which are situated at the two extremities of any diameter of the earth. ANTISCII. The people who dwell in opposite hemispheres of the earth, and whose shadows at noon fall in contrary directions. ANT ISLANDS. Generally found on Spanish charts as _Hormigas_. ANVIL. The massive block of iron on which armourers hammer forge-work. It is also an archaism for the handle or hilt of a sword: thus Coriolanus-- "Here I clip The anvil of my sword." It is moreover a little narrow flag at the end of a lance. ANYHOW. Do the duty by all means, and at any rate or risk: as Nelson, impatient for getting to Copenhagen in 1801, exclaimed-- "Let it be by the Sound, by the Belt, or anyhow, only lose not an hour." ANY PORT IN A STORM signifies contentment with whatever may betide. APAGOGE. A mathematical progress from one proposition to another. APE, OR SEA-APE. The long-tailed shark. Also, an active American seal. APEEK. A ship drawn directly over the anchor is _apeek_: when the fore-stay and cable form a line, it is _short stay apeek_; when in a line with the main-stay, _long stay apeek_. The anchor is _apeek_ when the cable has been sufficiently hove in to bring the ship over it.--_Yards apeek._ When they are topped up by contrary lifts. (_See_ PEAK.) APERTÆ. Ancient deep-waisted ships, with high-decked forecastle and poop. APERTURE, in astronomy. The opening of a telescope tube next the object-glass, through which the rays of light and image of the object are conveyed to the eye. It is usually estimated by the clear diameter of the object-glass. APEX. The summit or vertex of anything; as the upper point of a triangle.