Straits Settlements


noun(used with a singular or plural verb)
  1. a former British crown colony in SE Asia: included the settlements of Singapore, Penang, Malacca, and Labuan.

Words Nearby Straits Settlements

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Straits Settlements in a sentence

  • The vegetation in the Straits Settlements is such as writers on the tropics have made familiar to us.

  • In 1867 these settlements were converted into a Crown colony under the name of the Straits Settlements.

    A Visit to Java | W. Basil Worsfold
  • But the opium business is apparently still flourishing in the Straits Settlements.

    The Opium Monopoly | Ellen Newbold La Motte
  • The Malay spoken here is a different dialect to that in use in the Straits Settlements.

    Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water | Lady (Ethel Gwendoline [Moffatt]) Vincent
  • Malay is the current language of the Straits Settlements, among the variety of nationalities which gather in their towns.

    Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water | Lady (Ethel Gwendoline [Moffatt]) Vincent

British Dictionary definitions for Straits Settlements

Straits Settlements

/ (streɪts) /


pl n
  1. (formerly) a British crown colony of SE Asia that included Singapore, Penang, Malacca, Labuan, and some smaller islands

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012