[thoo-lee for 1, 2; too-lee for 3] 
| 1. | the ancient Greek and Latin name for an island or region variously identified as one of the Shetland Islands, Iceland, or Norway: supposed to be the most northerly region of the world. |
| 2. | ultima Thule. |
| 3. | a settlement in NW Greenland: site of U.S. air base. 749. |
[too-lee] | of or pertaining to an Eskimo culture flourishing from a.d. 500–1400, and extending throughout the Arctic from Greenland to Alaska. |
[uhl-tuh-muh thoo-lee; Lat. oo
l-ti-mah too-le] | 1. | (italics) Latin. the highest degree attainable. |
| 2. | the farthest point; the limit of any journey. |
| 3. | the point believed by the ancients to be farthest north. |
| Thu·le 1 (thōō'lē) The most northerly region of the habitable world to ancient Greek geographers. Posited as an island north of Britain, it has been variously identified with Iceland, Norway, and the Shetland Islands. |
| Thu·le 2 (tōō'lē) A town of northwest Greenland northwest of Cape York. A U.S. naval base was built here during World War II. Population: 652. |
| Thu·le 3 (tōō'lē) n. A Native American culture that spread eastward across coastal Arctic regions to eastern Canada and Greenland from its beginnings in the Bering Strait region, flourishing from about 1000 to 1600. [After Thule1.] |
Thule
in literature, the furthest possible place in the world. Thule was the northernmost part of the habitable ancient world. (See Thule culture.) References to ultima Thule in modern literature appear in works by Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson.
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