Definitions

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

  • Roman scholar and naturalist. He wrote the 37-volume Historia Naturalis. His nephew Pliny (originally Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, AD 62?–113?), known as “the Younger,” was a consul and writer whose letters provide valuable information about Roman life.

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

  • proper noun An ancient Roman praenomen.

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

  • noun Roman writer and nephew of Pliny the Elder; author of books of letters that commented on affairs of the day (62-113)
  • noun Roman author of an encyclopedic natural history; died while observing the eruption of Vesuvius (23-79)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ultimately from Latin Plīnius.

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