Definition of "atomy"

And thicker then in sunne are Atomies,Flew bullets, fier, and slaughtered dead mens cries.

1595, Gervase Markham, The most Honorable Tragedie of Sir Richard Grinuile, Knight,‎

That eyes, that are the frail’st and softest thingsWho shut their coward gates on atomiesShould be call’d tyrants, butchers, murderers!

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene v]

Thinke not that all betwixt the Wherpoole, and the Sprat,I goe about to name, that were to take in hand,The Atomy to tell, or to cast vp the sand;

1622, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in The Second Part, or A Continuance of Poly-Olbion from the Eighteenth Song. […], London: […] Augustine Mathewes for Iohn Marriott, Iohn Grismand, and Thomas Dewe, page 109

[…] the crewSeemed in that light, like atomies to danceWithin a sunbeam;

1824, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Triumph of Life”, in Posthumous Poems‎, London: John and Henry L. Hunt, page 91

The marvel is that man can smile dreaming his ghostly ghastly dream;— / Better the heedless atomy that buzzes in the morning beam!

1880, Richard Francis Burton, The Kasidah, London: H. S. Nichols, 1894, p. 7

Lastly, it [an Element] is the least part or Atomie of that thing which is made, or proceedeth from it.

1610, Gervase Markham, chapter 2, in Markhams Maister-Peece‎, London: Nicholas Okes, page 4

And freely men confesse that this world’s spent,When in the Planets, and the firmamentThey seeke so many new; they see that thisIs crumbled out againe to his Atomies.

1633, John Donne, “An Anatomie of the World”, in Poems‎, London: John Marriott, page 242

[…] praise thy God,O be not selfe-conceited, least his rodDoe bruise thee into Atomies;

1641, Thomas Herbert, An Elegie upon the Death of Thomas, Earle of Strafford‎, London, page 6

[…] she [Queen Mab] comesIn shape no bigger than an agate-stoneOn the fore-finger of an alderman,Drawn with a team of little atomiesAthwart men’s noses as they lie asleep;

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]

Was there a "delicate atomy" of minute dimensions and pale complexion, he forthwith strutted a hardy Highlander.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], page 71

“Hey!” he said, “why, it’s Tom! I suppose you have come here to laugh at me, you spiteful little atomy?”

1862 August – 1863 March, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, London, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., published 1863, pages 331-332

Hostess Quickly. Ay, come, you starv’d bloodhound. Doll Tearsheet. Goodman death, goodman bones!Hostess Quickly. Thou atomy, thou! Doll Tearsheet. Come, you thin thing! come, you rascal!

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iv]

I could not save him from those fleaing Rascals the Surgeons; and now, poor Man, he is among the Otamys [sic] at Surgeon's Hall.

1728, John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, Dublin: George Risk et al., Act II, Scene 1, p. 67

I was now thrown into a violent perturbation of spirit; for I never could behold an atomy without fear and trembling, even when I knew it was no more than a composition of dry bones;

1769, Tobias Smollett, The History and Adventures of an Atom‎, volume 1, London: Robinson and Roberts, page 2

[…] a bedstead with four bare atomies of posts, each terminating in a spike, as if for the dismal accommodation of lodgers who might prefer to impale themselves.

1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, book the first (Poverty), page 28

The veriest atomy he looked,With grimy fingers clutching and crooked,Tight skin, a nose all bony and hooked,And a shaking, sharp, suspicious way;

1866, Christina Rossetti, “The Prince’s Progress”, in The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems‎, London: Macmillan, page 11

[…] noble Lesser Alps which were clothed in rich velvety green all the way up and had little atomy Swiss homes perched upon grassy benches along their mist-dimmed heights.

1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXV, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, page 398

[…] the atomy speck, hurled through space, which we mortals call the world!—

1894, Richard Henry Savage, The Princess of Alaska, Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally, Book 2, Chapter 8, p. 235

Things that flit in the sky or creepIn the atomy dust, or swarm in the deep,

1919, George Rostrevor Hamilton, “Thoughts”, in Escape and Fantasy: Poems‎, New York: Macmillan, page 19