Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A region of the Netherlands on the North Sea. Much of Holland lies below sea level and consists of agriculturally fertile polders. In the 1500s and 1600s, Holland's growth as a shipping and commercial center made it the most influential and prosperous region of the Netherlands.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The Netherlands.
  • proper noun A region of the Netherlands formed by two provinces: North Holland and South Holland.
  • proper noun An English habitational surname for someone from the Netherlands, or from any of the various places in England named Holland.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Dutch holt lant ("wood land"). A popular but false etymology holds that it is derived from hol land ("hollow land"), inspired by the low-lying geography of both the Dutch and the English region (Holland, Lincolnshire).

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