isle

[ahyl]

noun

a small island.

any island.

verb (used with object), isled, isl·ing.

to make into or as if into an isle.

to place on or as if on an isle.

Origin of isle

1250–1300; Middle English i(s)le < Old French < Latin īnsula

Related formsisle·less, adjective

Can be confusedaisle I'll isle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for isles

peninsula, reef, archipelago, enclave, islet, sanctuary, bar, shelter, retreat, key, haven, refuge, atoll, cay, ait

Examples from the Web for isles

Contemporary Examples of isles

Disney-star-turned-'Rizzoli & Isles'-actor Lee Thompson Young died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday.
Lee Thompson Young, Star of 'The Famous Jett Jackson,' Commits Suicide
Kevin Fallon
August 19, 2013
But by 1920, American per-capita GDP exceeded that of the British Isles.
American Household Gadget Exceptionalism
Megan McArdle
February 7, 2013

Historical Examples of isles

Our nation is in number more than half that of the British Isles.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
By one of these we enter, to find ourselves among a hundred isles.
Indian Legends of Vancouver Island
Alfred Carmichael
By far the most tragic fate, however, was that suffered by the British Isles.
Spawn of the Comet
Harold Thompson Rich
The skiff left the bank, advancing slowly towards the isles.
Therese Raquin
Emile Zola
But his mission is not in the isles of the West; he establisheth the throne in Zion.
Dreamers of the Ghetto
I. Zangwill

British Dictionary definitions for isles

isle

noun

an island, esp a small one: used in literature and (when cap.) in place names

Word Origin for isle

C13: from Old French isle, from Latin insula island

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

Word Origin and History for isles

isle

late 13c., from Old French ile, earlier isle, from Latin insula "island," of uncertain origin, perhaps (as the Ancients guessed) from in salo "(that which is) in the sea," from ablative of salum "the open sea." The -s- was restored first in French, then in English in the late 1500s.