Lusitania

[loo-si-tey-nee-uh]

noun

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

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

Related formsLu·si·ta·ni·an, adjective, noun

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

Examples from the Web for lusitanian

Contemporary Examples of lusitanian

The boat—this floating church of Morrissey, this Lusitanian of sadness—is sold out.
This Charming Man: Meet 'Ronnissey,' Brooklyn's Fake Morrissey
Michael Moynihan
September 10, 2014

Historical Examples of lusitanian

Caroline remarked, hitherto a passive listener to these Lusitanian contes.
Evan Harrington, Complete
George Meredith
The more western districts of this Lusitanian zone are not so disagreeable.
Gatherings From Spain
Richard Ford
These are all of Lusitanian origin, and do not occur in Central Europe.
The History of the European Fauna
R. F. Scharff
Platyarthrus is only one of the Lusitanian genera of woodlice.
The History of the European Fauna
R. F. Scharff
Of the true Lusitanian mammals a typical example is the Rabbit.
The History of the European Fauna
R. F. Scharff

British Dictionary definitions for lusitanian

Lusitanian

adjective

mainly poetic of or relating to Lusitania or Portugal

biology denoting flora or fauna characteristically found only in the warm, moist, west-facing coastal regions of Portugal, Spain, France, and the west and southwest coasts of Great Britain and Ireland

Lusitania

noun

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

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 lusitanian

Lusitania

Latin name of a region roughly corresponding to modern Portugal; in modern use, allusive or poetic for "Portugal." The Cunard ocean liner (sister ship of the Mauretania and Aquitania, also named after Roman Atlantic coastal provinces) was launched in 1906, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915.

lusitanian in Culture

Lusitania

[(looh-suh-tay-nee-uh)]

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.