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• kos
  kos

  noun

  a unit of land distance of various lengths from 1 to 3 miles (1.6 to 4.8 km).
• Kos
  Kos

  noun

  one of the Greek Dodecanese Islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Turkey. 111 sq. mi. (287 sq. km).

kos

¹ American  

[kohs] / koʊs /

Or coss

noun

• kos
  plural

1. a unit of land distance of various lengths from 1 to 3 miles (1.6 to 4.8 km).

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Kos ² American  

[kos, kaws] / kɒs, kɔs /

Or Cos

noun

1. one of the Greek Dodecanese Islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Turkey. 111 sq. mi. (287 sq. km).

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Kos ¹ British  

/ kɒs /

noun

1. an island in the SE Aegean Sea, in the Greek Dodecanese Islands: separated from SW Turkey by the Kos Channel ; settled in ancient times by Dorians and became famous for literature and medicine. Pop: 30 947 (2001). Area: 282 sq km (109 sq miles)

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kos ² British  

/ kəʊs /

noun

1. Also called: coss.  an Indian unit of distance having different values in different localities. It is usually between 1 and 3 miles or 1 and 5 kilometres

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• kos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of kos

< Hindi ≪ Sanskrit krośa

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kos Kos

He had come from some village, with an unpronounceable name, thirty kos away, to see his brother's son, who was sick in the big Hospital.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling

About five kos on our journey we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our breakfast on the snow in the company of a select party of marmots.

From Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet by William Henry Knight

Entering the Pass of Fotoola, we ascended gradually for some five kos, and reached a considerable elevation, with a good deal of snow lying about on the mountains.

From Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet by William Henry Knight

The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows; one kos by DESCRIPTION, at this stage of the proceedings, being generally equal to two in reality.

From Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet by William Henry Knight

That day his horse ran twelve kos there and back three times within an hour.

From Santal Folk Tales by A. Campbell

The European Union's enlargement chief Marta Kos on Friday said Iceland was set for a "significant decision" with its referendum.

From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026

“If you’re investing in small data sets and relying on surrogate endpoints, the risk has simply become too high,” says Simos Simeonidis, managing partner and co-founder of Kos Biotechnology Partners, an investment fund.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026

Theo Treharne-Jones, from Merthyr Tydfil, was found unconscious in a swimming pool at Atlantica Holiday Village in Kos, a Greek island, on 15 June 2019.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025

“Daily Kos turns 20, and what a ride it’s been,” Daily Kos, May 26, 2022.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2024

He passed die stairway to the pilothouse and squeezed past the extra cargo, crates of Kalamata olives and olive oil, sea sponges from Kos.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides