▪ a book of illustrations or diagrams on any subject: "Atlas of Surgical Operations"
2. the topmost vertebra of the backbone, articulating with the occipital bone of the skull.
3. a stone carving of a male figure, used as a column to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.
Word Originlate 16th century (originally denoting a person who supported a great burden): via Latin from Greek Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology who supported the heavens and whose picture appeared at the front of early atlases.