Lusitania

[loo-si-tey-nee-uh]

noun

1. (italics),  a British luxury liner sunk by a German submarine in the North Atlantic Ocean on May 7, 1915: one of the events leading to U.S. entry into World War I.

2. an ancient region and Roman province in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding generally to modern Portugal.

Lusitania

/ ˌluːsɪˈteɪnɪə /

noun

1. an ancient region of the W Iberian Peninsula: a Roman province from 27 _bc to the late 4th century _ad ; corresponds to most of present-day Portugal and the Spanish provinces of Salamanca and Cáceres

Lusitania

1. A British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915. Germany, then at war with Britain but not with the United States (see World War I), had warned Americans against traveling on the ship. More than a hundred Americans died in the sinking. The incident worsened relations between Germany and the United States and encouraged American involvement in the war.

Other Word Forms

• Lusitanian adjective

Example Sentences

But as happened elsewhere in the country, much of L.A.’s public German community went to ground after May 1915, when a German U-boat sank the British ocean liner Lusitania.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

On May 1, 1915, the British luxury liner Lusitania, famed as the biggest and fastest ship in Atlantic service, sailed from New York on a voyage to England.

Read more on Literature

In an ironic twist, Marconi narrowly avoided travelling on that fatal voyage - he was offered a free ticket for the Titanic but took the Lusitania three days earlier.

Read more on BBC

The sale includes other notable nautical items including an original deck chair that was on the Lusitania, a passenger liner that was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915.

Read more on BBC

Lusitania berthed before its fateful voyage became a shamble of auto salvage shops, tow pounds, S&M bars and taxi garages.

Read more on New York Times