a town of the Austrian Netherlands in the duchy of Brabant, and capital of the duchy of Aerschot. It is seated on the river Demur, ten miles east of Malines or Mechlin, and eight north of Louvain. E. Long. 5° 44'. N. Lat. 51'.

ÆRUGINOUS, an epithet given to such things as resemble or partake of the nature of the rust of copper.

ÆRUGO, in Natural History, properly signifies the rust of copper, whether natural or artificial. The former is found about copper mines, and the latter, called verdigris, made by corroding copper plates with acids.

ÆRUSCATORES, in Antiquity, a kind of strolling beggars, not unlike gypsies, who drew money from the credulous by fortune-telling, &c. It was also a denomination given to griping exactors, or collectors of the revenue. The Galli, or priests of Cybele, were called æruscatores magnae matris; and Æreopagites, on account of their begging or collecting alms in the streets; to which end they had little bells to draw people's attention, similar to some orders of mendicants abroad.