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Hellespont

American  
[hel-uh-spont] / ˈhɛl əˌspɒnt /

noun

  1. ancient name of the Dardanelles.


Hellespont British  
/ ˈhɛlɪˌspɒnt /

noun

  1. the ancient name for the Dardanelles

"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

Other Word Forms

  • Hellespontine adjective

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He discovered, upon crossing the Hellespont, that his huge armies exceeded the carrying capacity of the Greek countryside, that the topography favored the defender, that late-summer storms were battering his fleet in the Aegean Sea.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2018

He was a man of letters but also, like his hero Byron, a man of action — a war hero and a restless adventurer, who even swam the Hellespont when he was 69.

From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2017

The strait on its southern shore is the Dardanelles—or, to use the old romantic term, the Hellespont, as it was called when Byron swam across it, in 1810.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 25, 2015

An intellectual counter to the polymath Fermor, she was there when, aged 69, he swam the Hellespont in imitation of his idol Lord Byron.

From BBC • Oct. 9, 2014

This occurred to many in Greece, in the cities of Ionia and the Hellespont, where Darius set up rulers in order to hold these cities for his own security and glory.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli