atomy

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(ăt'ə-mē) pronunciation
n. Archaic, pl., -mies.
  1. A tiny particle; a mote.
  2. A tiny being.

[From Latin atomī, pl. of atomus, atom. See atom.]


at·o·my2 (ăt'ə-mē) pronunciation
n. Archaic, pl., -mies.
A gaunt person; a skeleton.

[From an atomy, respelling of ANATOMY.]


An atomy is a diminutive fairy creature or sprite of surprising smallness that was mentioned in some historic literature.

Literature

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare describes Atomies pulling Queen Mab's carriage.

O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs,

Fairy Land by Edgar Allan Poe references atomies in the last lines:

They use that moon no more
For the same end as before-
Videlicet, a tent-
Which I think extravagant:
Its atomies, however,
Into a shower dissever,
Of which those butterflies
Of Earth, who seek the skies,
And so come down again,
(Never-contented things!)
Have brought a specimen
Upon their quivering wings.

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