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ocean

 - 3 dictionary results

o⋅cean

[oh-shuhn]
–noun
1. the vast body of salt water that covers almost three fourths of the earth's surface.
2. any of the geographical divisions of this body, commonly given as the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans.
3. a vast expanse or quantity: an ocean of grass.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME ocean(e) (< OF) < L ōceanus, special use of Ōceanus Oceanus < Gk ōkeanós, Ōkeanós


o⋅cean⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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o·cean   (ō'shən)   
n.  
  1. The entire body of salt water that covers more than 70 percent of the earth's surface.

  2. Abbr. Oc. or O. Any of the principal divisions of the ocean, including the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans.

  3. A great expanse or amount: "that ocean of land which is Russia" (Henry A. Kissinger).


[Middle English occean, from Old French, from Latin ōceanus, from Greek Ōkeanos, the god Oceanus, a great river encircling the earth.]
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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Word Origin & History

ocean 
c.1290, from O.Fr. occean (12c.), from L. oceanus, from Gk. okeanos, the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth (as opposed to the Mediterranean), of unknown origin. Personified as Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaia and husband of Tethys. In early times, when the only known land masses were Eurasia and Africa, the ocean was an endless river that flowed around them. Until c.1650, commonly ocean sea, translating L. mare oceanum. Application to individual bodies of water began 14c.; there are usually reckoned to be five of them, but this is arbitrary; also occasionally applied to smaller subdivisions, e.g. German Ocean "North Sea." Oceanography coined in Eng. 1859, from Gk. graphia, from graphein "to write" (about).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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