Lusitania
- (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.
Examples from the Web for lusitanian
Contemporary Examples
The boat—this floating church of Morrissey, this Lusitanian of sadness—is sold out.
Historical Examples
Caroline remarked, hitherto a passive listener to these Lusitanian contes.
Evan Harrington, CompleteGeorge Meredith
The more western districts of this Lusitanian zone are not so disagreeable.
Gatherings From SpainRichard Ford
These are all of Lusitanian origin, and do not occur in Central Europe.
The History of the European FaunaR. F. Scharff
Platyarthrus is only one of the Lusitanian genera of woodlice.
The History of the European FaunaR. F. Scharff
Of the true Lusitanian mammals a typical example is the Rabbit.
The History of the European FaunaR. F. Scharff
Lusitanian
- 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
- 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
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.
Lusitania
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.