[ber-lin, bur-lin] 
| 1. | a large, four-wheeled, closed carriage hung between two perches and having two interior seats. |
| 2. | Automotive. berline. |
| 3. | (sometimes initial capital letter ) Berlin wool. |
[ber-lin for 1–3; bur-lin for 4, 5; for 3 also Ger. ber-leen] | 1. | Irving, 1888–1989, U.S. songwriter. |
| 2. | Isaiah, 1909–97, English political philosopher and historian, born in Latvia. |
| 3. | the capital of Germany, in the NE part: constitutes a state. 3,121,000; 341 sq. mi. (883 sq. km.). Formerly (1948-90) divided into a western zone (West Berlin), a part of West Germany; and an eastern zone (East Berlin), the capital of East Germany. |
| 4. | a town in central Connecticut. 15,121. |
| 5. | a city in N New Hampshire. 13,084. |
| ber·lin (bər-lĭn') n.
[After Berlin, Germany.] |
| Ber·lin (bûr-lĭn') The capital and largest city of Germany, in the northeast part of the country. Founded in the 13th century, it was the capital of the kingdom of Prussia from 1701 and the capital of the German Empire (1871-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1932), and the Third Reich (1933-1945). The city was divided between 1945 and 1990 into East Berlin and West Berlin, which division grew out of the zones of occupation established at the end of World War II. The Berlin Wall, a wire and concrete barrier, was erected by the East German government in August 1961 and dismantled in November 1989. Population: 3,400,000. |
| Berlin, Irving Originally Israel Baline. 1888-1989. Russian-born American songwriter who wrote more than 1,500 songs, including "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911), and several musical comedies, such as Top Hat (1935) and Annie Get Your Gun (1946). |
| Berlin, Isaiah 1909-1997. Russian-born British political philosopher and historian best known for his distinction between positive and negative liberty and for his view that values are plural and conflicting. |
Capital of reunited Germany, located in the northeastern part of the country.
Note: Formerly the capital of Prussia and then of Germany, Berlin was occupied by American, British, French, and Soviet troops after World War II. Disagreements among the Allies led to the partition of the city, with the Soviet zone becoming East Berlin, and the other zones West Berlin. East Berlin became the capital of the communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany), but West Berlin lost its capital status to Bonn in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
Note: The Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949 supplied West Berlin by air transport after the Soviet Union set up a land and water blockade in an attempt to gain political control of this noncommunist “island” in the midst of communist East Germany.
Note: The two Berlins were physically separated by the Berlin Wall, a barrier designed to prevent East Germans from crossing into West Berlin, from 1961 to 1989.
Note: With the reunification of the two Germanys in 1990, the reunified city of Berlin was restored to its place as Germany's capital.
