Ottoman

[ot-uh-muhn]

adjective

1. of or relating to the Ottoman Empire.

2. of or relating to the lands, peoples, and possessions of the Ottoman Empire.

noun

plural

Ottomans 

1. a Turk.

2. a Turk of the family or tribe of Osman.

3. (lowercase),  a cushioned footstool.

4. (lowercase),  a low cushioned seat without back or arms.

5. (lowercase),  a kind of divan or sofa, with or without a back.

6. (lowercase),  a corded silk or rayon fabric with large cotton cord for filling.

ottoman

¹

/ ˈɒtəmən /

noun

1. 1. a low padded seat, usually armless, sometimes in the form of a chest

   2. a cushioned footstool

2. a corded fabric

Ottoman

²

/ ˈɒtəmən /

adjective

1. history of or relating to the Ottomans or the Ottoman Empire

2. denoting or relating to the Turkish language

noun

1. a member of a Turkish people who invaded the Near East in the late 13th century

Other Word Forms

• Ottomanlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ottoman¹

1575–85; < French < Italian ottomano, after the founder of the empire ( Arabic ʿuthmān ); Ottoman defs. 5, 6, 7, 8 < French ottomane (feminine)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ottoman¹

C17: from French ottomane, feminine of _Ottoman

Origin of Ottoman²

C17: from French, via Medieval Latin, from Arabic Othmāni Turkish, from Turkish Othman _{Osman I}

Example Sentences

During World War One, Britain invaded Palestine, driving out the Ottoman Turks, and it facilitated its promise for a Jewish homeland made in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

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The British and French had tried to fix borders before, he said, when they took the Middle East from the dying Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

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It was also the first targeting of the Christian community in Syria since a massacre in 1860, when a conflict broke out between Druze and Maronite Christians under Ottoman rule.

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Maps showing the full reach of the Indian Empire were only published in top secrecy, and the Arabian territories were left off public documents to avoid provoking the Ottomans or later the Saudis.

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The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

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