• alnus,
i,
f. [akin to Swed. al; A. S. aler; Germ. Eller; Engl. alder, elder],
the alder, which flourishes in moist places: Betula alnus, Linn.;
cf. Plin. 16, 40, 79, § 218;
Cat. 17, 18;
Verg. G. 2, 110: alnorum umbracula,
Cic. Fragm. ap. Macr. S. 6, 4.—
Poet., any thing
made of alder-wood; so
esp.,
a ship, since it was much used in ship-building:
tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas, Verg. G. 1, 136; so
id. ib. 2, 451;
Luc. 2, 426:
amica fretis, Stat. Th. 6, 106 al.;
and of pales or posts, Luc. 2, 486;
4, 422.—The sisters of Phaëton, while bewailing his death, were changed to alders,
acc. to
Verg. E. 6, 62;
cf. with it
id. A. 10, 190;
Claud. Fescenn. Nupt. Hon. 14.