a1500 (BL Add. 23002) (1872) 81 Ley thy rewle of thy astrolabye, that is to sey, the allydatha [1561 allidatha], vpon þe day in the kalendre off the Astrolabye, & he schall schewe the thy degree of the sonne.
?a1560 L. Digges (1571) i. xxix. sig. Iiij Note bothe what degrees the Alhidada cutteth of the circle, and the perpendiculare of the semicircle.
1578 W. Bourne i. ii. f. 5 Now if that you wyl know, the height of any Towne or vpright wal, doe thus turne the Athelida C. to the corner of the Scall, and set it vpon the parte 12.
1679 J. Moxon 5 Alhadida..a word seldom used by English authors..signifies only the Label or Index that moves upon the centre-pin of an Astrolabe.
1728 tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville (ed. 2) ii. i. 104 Describe it truly upon the Ground in like Proportion, by opening the Semicircle and setting the Alhidade or Moveable Index on the same Number of Degrees.
1765 (Royal Soc.) 54 162 Moved in the limb by a vertical motion in either direction by the alidad alone.
1834 (Libr. Useful Knowl.) III. xiii. 66/1 Morin went so far as..to attach a telescope to the alhidade of what he calls a planisphere.
1837 W. Whewell I. 231 The alidad of an instrument is its index, which possesses an angular motion.
1951 H. Wouk (1952) v. xx. 238 Urgan, at the port alidade, called out, ‘Left tangent Roi, 064.’.. He put his eye to the alidade.
1984 D. Hill (1996) vii. 120 For everyday use in measuring angles, a simple rotatable alidade provided with a scale of angles was probably the normal instrument.
2009 U. McGovern & P. Jenner 270 During the day, the astrolabe would be held below eye level, the alidad again turned until a ray of sunlight was sighted and the angle read.