alp

sing., but more often in the pl., Alps, * Alpes. [In Ger. Alpen; Lat. pl. Alpes, more rarely sing. Alpis; Gr. plur. "Αλπεις (Alpeis): from ἀλφός ( alphos ), Lat. alb us = white; or from Irish & Gael. ailpa huge ma or lump.] I. Literally : 1. Plur .: A magnificent chain of mountains connecting France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. They are of crescent form, extend about six hundred miles, and contain Mont Blanc, the loftiest mountain in Europe, which rises 15,744 feet above the level of the sea. 2. Sing .: Any high mountain, wherever situated. "O'er many a frozen, many a fiery alp ." Milton: P. Z., bk. ii. " Alps frown on Alps , or rushing hideous down, As if old Chaos were again return'd, Wide rend the deep, and shake the solid pole." Thomson : Winter . II. Fig .: Anything towering, and opposing formidable obstacles to the person who wishes to surmount it, or to ignore its existence. This may be (a) physical- "Those that, to the poles approaching, rise In billows rolling into alps of ice." Or (b) mental or moral. Thomson: Liberty , pt. iv. "If the body bring but in a complaint of frigidity, by that cold application only, this adamantine alp of wedlock has leave to di olve."- Milton : Tetra chord on.