Senegal

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. A country of western Africa on the Atlantic Ocean. The coast was settled by Wolof and other West Atlantic peoples, while the interior formed part of the medieval empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Coastal trading posts were established by the Portuguese (mid-15th century) and by the Dutch and the French (17th century). Senegal was awarded to France in 1815 by the Treaty of Paris and became a French colony in 1895 as part of French West Africa, with full independence being won in 1960. Senegal joined with Gambia in the short-lived confederation of Senegambia (1981-1989). Dakar is the capital and the largest city. Population: 12,500,000.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of or pertaining to Senegal, a river in western Africa, and the region near it. Compare Senegambian.
2. n. [lowercase] A dealers' name of the small African blood-finches of the genus Lagonosticta. They are tiny birds, averaging under 4 inches long, and would be taken for little finches, but belong to the spermestine group of the Ploceidæ (not to Fringillidæ). More than 20 species of Lagonosticta are described, all African; they are closely related to the numerous species of Spermestes, all likewise African, and of Estrelda and its subdivisions, mainly African, but also Indian, some of which are known to the dealers as amadavats, strawberry-finches, etc. The blood-flnches (Lagonosticta proper) are so called from their leading color, a rich crimson, shaded into browns, grays, and black, and often set off with pearly white spots. Several different birds share the name senegal. That to which it specially pertains inhabits Senegambia; it is the sénégali of the early French and the fire-bird or fire-finch of the early English ornithologists, the Fringilla senegala of Linnæus, and the Estrelda senegala of many writers; it is 3¾ inches long, the male mostly crimson, with black tail and brown belly, and the back brown washed over with crimson. L. minima is scarcely different, but slightly smaller, and has a few white dots on the sides of the breast.

Wiktionary

1. n. Country in Western Africa. Official name: Republic of Senegal.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Gum senegal. See under gum.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a republic in northwestern Africa on the coast of the Atlantic; formerly a French colony but achieved independence in 1960