the Americas

Variant of America

America definition

Ameri·ca (ə mer′i kə)

  1. North America, South America, and the West Indies, considered together
    also the Americas
  2. North America
  3. ☆ the United States of America

Etymology: ModL, name assoc. (1507) by Martin Waldseemüller (1470?-1522?), Ger cosmographer, with Americus Vespucius, Latinized form of Amerigo Vespucci, but < ? Sp Amerrique, name of a mountain range in Nicaragua, used by early explorers for the newly discovered lands < ? AmInd

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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