Amazon
The Amazon, in South America, is the largest river in the world.
(noun)An example of a country where the Amazon runs through is Brazil.
In mythology, an Amazon was defined as a female in battle known to live in Pontus, close to the Black Sea.
(noun)An example of an Amazon was Penthesilea.
The definition of an amazon is a woman possessing extraordinary height and strength.
(noun)An example of someone who might be considered an Amazon is a tall professional track runner who is female.
See Amazon in Webster's New World College Dictionary
noun
- Gr. Myth. any of a race of female warriors supposed to have lived in Scythia, near the Black Sea
- a tall, strong, aggressive woman
- a small, greenish parrot (genus Amazona) of Central and South America, often kept as a pet
- any of a genus (Polyergus) of ants that makes slaves of other antsalso Amazon ant
Origin: L < Gr Amazōn, of unknown orig., but deriv. by folk etym. < a-, without + mazos, breast, hence the story that the Amazons cut off one breast to facilitate archery
Origin: so named by Spaniards, who believed its shores inhabited by female warriors: see Amazon
See Amazon in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
- Greek Mythology A member of a nation of women warriors reputed to have lived in Scythia.
- often amazon A tall, aggressive, strong-willed woman.
- A small green parrot of the genus Amazona, having a short tail and red-and-blue wings, native to Central and South America.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English
Origin: , from Latin Amāzōn
Origin: , from Greek Amazōn
Origin: , probably of Iranian origin
. Word History: In classical legend the Amazons were a tribe of warrior women. Their name is supposedly derived from Greek a-mazos, “without a breast,” because according to the legend they cut off their right breasts so as to be better able to shoot with a bow and arrow. This folk etymology, like most folk etymologies, is incorrect, but the Amazons of legend are not so completely different from the historical Amazons, who were also warriors. The historical Amazons were Scythians, an Iranian people renowned for their cavalry. The first Greeks to come into contact with the Iranians were the Ionians, who lived on the coast of Asia Minor and were constantly threatened by the Persians, the most important of the Iranian peoples. Amazōn is the Ionian Greek form of the Iranian word ha-mazan, “fighting together.” The regular Greek form would be hamazōn, but because the Ionians dropped their aitches like Cockneys, hamazōn became amazōn, the form taken into the other Greek dialects.Learn more about Amazon
