Maltese

[ mawl-teez, -tees ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to Malta, its people, or their language.

noun,plural Mal·tese.
  1. a native or inhabitant of Malta.

  2. the Arabic dialect spoken in Malta, using many Italian words.

Origin of Maltese

1
First recorded in 1605–15; Malt(a) + -ese

Words Nearby Maltese

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Maltese in a sentence

  • The second is cloathed with hair, and in size resembles our little Maltese dogs.

    Buffon's Natural History. Volume IX (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
  • Our next recruit was a little Maltese terrier, named Lisette, which raised the number to fourteen.

  • Fig. 190 shows an Etruscan bronze fibula with two Swastikas and two Maltese crosses in the pin shield.

    The Swastika | Thomas Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for Maltese

Maltese

/ (mɔːlˈtiːz) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to Malta, its inhabitants, or their language

noun
  1. plural -tese a native or inhabitant of Malta

  2. the official language of Malta, a form of Arabic with borrowings from Italian, etc

  1. a breed of toy dog having a very long straight silky white coat

  2. a domestic fancy pigeon having long legs and a long neck

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012