Marquesan
Americannoun
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a Polynesian native of the Marquesas Islands.
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the Polynesian language of the Marquesas Islands.
adjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of Marquesan
First recorded in 1790–1800; Marques(as Islands) + -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tattoo historian Steve Gilbert explains that the word "tattoo" itself is a combination of Marquesan and Samoan words – tatau and tatu – to describe these practices.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2021
The accompanying illustrations, uniformly delightful, include a juxtaposition of the patterns of traditional Marquesan tattoos with those of late-Victorian hosiery.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 11, 2019
The fear of ghosts and of the dark is very deeply written in the mind of the Polynesian; not least of the Marquesan.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Had Tari been a Marquesan we should have seen him no more; being what he was, the most mild, long-suffering, 26 melancholy man, he took a revenge a hundred times more painful.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses were raised above the ground on posts from eight or ten to sixteen feet high.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Vol. II by Sir James George Frazer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
