Definitions

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

  • noun An open space in a South Asian town.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Persia and India, a level open green or esplanade in or adjoining a town, serving for a parade-ground or for amusements of all sorts, but especially for military exercises, horsemanship, and horseraces. Sometimes spelled meidan.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun In various parts of Asia, an open space, as for military exercises, or for a market place; an open grassy tract; an esplanade.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of meidan.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi and Urdu maidān from Persian maydān, city square, open place from Arabic, city square, open space, racetrack, combat area from māda, to be moved, sway; see myd in Semitic roots.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Citation on curvet.

    September 19, 2008

  • "We went to the railway station so that I could buy a ticket for the Himigiri-Howrah Express, a mighty Aryan iron horse that would drag me clear across the north of the subcontinent to Chandigarh. I got a chitty from Window A and took it for authorisation to Window B. At Window B I received a second chitty and took it to the Sales Booth. Every single step had to be taken through a dense thicket of humanity; thorny limbs pricked me, twiggy fingers scratched me. I emerged blinking and bedevilled into the harsh light of the maidan."

    Psychogeography by Will Self, p 85

    October 13, 2010