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Am⋅a⋅zon
[am-uh-zon, -zuh
n] 
–noun
| 1. | a river in N South America, flowing E from the Peruvian Andes through N Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean: the largest river in the world in volume of water carried. 3900 mi. (6280 km) long. |
| 2. | Classical Mythology. one of a race of female warriors said to dwell near the Black Sea. |
| 3. | one of a fabled tribe of female warriors in South America. |
| 4. | (often lowercase) a tall, powerful, aggressive woman. |
| 5. | Amazon ant. |
| 6. | any of several green parrots of the genus Amazona, of tropical America, often kept as pets. |
Origin:
< L Amazōn < Gk Amaz
n, of obscure orig.
< L Amazōn < Gk Amaz
n, of obscure orig.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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| Am·a·zon (ām'ə-zŏn', -zən) n.
[Middle English, from Latin Amāzōn, from Greek Amazōn, probably of Iranian origin.] Word History: In classical legend the Amazons were a tribe of warrior women. Their name is supposedly derived from Greek a-mazos, "without a breast," because according to the legend they cut off their right breasts so as to be better able to shoot with a bow and arrow. This folk etymology, like most folk etymologies, is incorrect, but the Amazons of legend are not so completely different from the historical Amazons, who were also warriors. The historical Amazons were Scythians, an Iranian people renowned for their cavalry. The first Greeks to come into contact with the Iranians were the Ionians, who lived on the coast of Asia Minor and were constantly threatened by the Persians, the most important of the Iranian peoples. Amazōn is the Ionian Greek form of the Iranian word ha-mazan, "fighting together." The regular Greek form would be hamazōn, but because the Ionians dropped their aitches like Cockneys, hamazōn became amazōn, the form taken into the other Greek dialects. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Amazon
Am"a*zon\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?.]1. One of a fabulous race of female warriors in Scythia; hence, a female warrior. 2. A tall, strong, masculine woman; a virago. 3. (Zo["o]l.) A name numerous species of South American parrots of the genus Chrysotis Amazon ant (Zo["o]l.), a species of ant (Polyergus rufescens), of Europe and America. They seize by conquest the larv[ae] and nymphs of other species and make slaves of them in their own nests.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Amazon
1398, from Gk. Amazon "one of a race of female warriors in Scythia," probably from an unknown non-I.E. word, but in folk etymology long derived from a- "without" + mazos "breasts," hence the story that the Amazons cut or burned off one breast so they could draw bowstrings more efficiently. The river in South America (originally called by the Sp. Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce) rechristened by Francisco de Orellana, 1541, after an encounter with female warriors of the Tapuyas.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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