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Illinois

Illinois is defined as a member of the group of Native Americans who lived in North Illinois, South Wisconsin and parts of Missouri and Iowa or the language of these people, or a midwestern state in the United States and a 273 mile river that flows through this state into the Mississippi River.

(noun)

An example of an Illinois is a Native American tribe member from South Wisconsin who spoke the Algonquin language.
An example of Illinois is the state of which Chicago is the capital.

See Illinois in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

pl. Illinois a member of a confederacy of North American Indian peoples that lived in N Illinois, S Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa and Missouri
the Algonquian language of this people

Origin: see Illinois

Midwestern state of the U.S.: admitted, 1818; 55,584 sq mi (143,961 sq km); pop. 12,419,000; cap. Springfield: abbrev. IL or Ill
river in Ill., flowing from southwest of Chicago into the Mississippi, near St. Louis: c. 273 mi (439 km)

Origin: Fr, earlier also Ilinoués < name in an unidentified Algonquian language: perhaps orig. meaning ordinary speaker

See Illinois in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. Illinois Illinois

a. A confederacy of Native American peoples formerly inhabiting southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and parts of eastern Iowa and Missouri, with present-day descendants mostly in Oklahoma.
b. A member of this confederacy.
The Algonquian language of the Illinois.

Origin:

Origin: French, of Algonquian origin

A state of the north-central United States. It was admitted as the 21st state in 1818. The area was explored by the French in the late 1600s, ceded by France to the British in 1763, and ceded by them to the newly formed United States in 1783. Springfield is the capital and Chicago the largest city. Population: 12,900,000.

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