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Definition of Pennsylvania - 4 dictionary results
Penn⋅syl⋅va⋅nia
[pen-suh
l-veyn-yuh, -vey-nee-uh] 
–noun
| a state in the E United States. 11,886,728; 45,333 sq. mi. (117,410 sq. km). Capital: Harrisburg. Abbreviation: PA (for use with zip code), Pa., Penn., Penna. |
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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|
Link To Pennsylvania
| Penn·syl·va·nia (pěn'səl-vān'yə, -vā'nē-ə) A state of the eastern United States. It was admitted as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in 1787. Explored by Europeans in the early 1600s, the region was settled by Swedes in 1634 and granted by royal charter to William Penn in 1681. The Mason-Dixon Line (surveyed in 1763-1767) established the southern boundary of the colony and was extended westward in 1784. Pennsylvania played a crucial role in the American Revolution and in the formation of the new republic. Harrisburg is the capital, and Philadelphia is the largest city. Population: 12,400,000. |
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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Pennsylvania
State in the northeastern United States bordered by Lake Erie and New York to the north; New Jersey to the east; Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south; and Ohio to the west. Its capital is Harrisburg, and its largest city is Philadelphia.
Note: One of the thirteen colonies.
Note: Named after the father of William Penn, a devout Quaker, who was granted proprietary rights by the king of England to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania in the late seventeenth century.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pennsylvania
American colony, later U.S. state, 1681, lit. "Penn's Woods," a hybrid formed from the surname Penn (Welsh, lit. "head") + L. sylvania (see sylvan). Not named for William Penn, the proprietor, but, on suggestion of Charles II, for Penn's late father, Admiral William Penn (1621-70), who had lent the king the money that was repaid in the form of land for a Quaker settlement in America. Penn wanted to call it New Wales, but the king's secretary, a Welshman of orthodox religion, wouldn't hear of it. Pennsylvania Dutch is attested from 1824. Pennsylvanian in ref. to a geological system is attested from 1891.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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