Definitions

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

  • England or Great Britain. Often used poetically.

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

  • noun An ancient name of England, still retained in poetry.

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

  • proper noun The ancient name for England (or sometimes, the British Isles), now only used poetically.
  • proper noun Any of several small towns in the United States.
  • proper noun West Bromwich Albion Football Club, a football team from West Bromwich

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun archaic name for England or Great Britain; used poetically

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Gallo-Latin name for Britain, Albiōn (Middle Welsh Albbu, Old Irish Albu), is from Proto-Celtic *albiyū (“world”) (stem : *albiyon-), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élbʰos, *álbʰos (“white”), whence also Latin albus ("white") and Ancient Greek ἀλφός (alphos, "whiteness, white leprosy"). The primary meaning of Common Celtic word is "upper world" (as opposed to underworld), with semasiological development similar to e.g. Russian свет (svet, "world; light").

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