Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • The island of Great Britain during pre-Roman, Roman, and early Anglo-Saxon times before the reign of Alfred the Great (871–899). The name is derived from Britannia, which the Romans used for the portion of the island that they occupied.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun the island of Great Britain.
  • proper noun The United Kingdom.
  • proper noun singular (historically) Brittany.
  • proper noun singular (historically) the British Empire.
  • proper noun plural (historically, rarely) the British Empire
  • proper noun countable (historically, rarely) a Briton

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English Breteyne, from Old French Bretaigne, from Latin Britannia, earlier Brittānia.

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