Muscovy

American  

[muhs-kuh-vee] / ˈmʌs kə vi /

noun

1. Also called Grand Duchy of Muscovy.  a principality founded c1271 and centered on the ancient city of Moscow. Its rulers gradually gained control over the neighboring Great Russian principalities and established the Russian Empire under the czars.

2. Archaic. Moscow.

3. Archaic. Russia.

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Muscovy British  

/ ˈmʌskəvɪ /

noun

1. a Russian principality (13th to 16th centuries), of which Moscow was the capital

2. an archaic name for Russia Moscow

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Example Sentences

Ukrainians learned that the hard way in the mid-1600s when Ukrainian Cossacks rebelled against their Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth rulers and established an independent state, seeking protection from their Orthodox co-religionists in Muscovy.

From Salon • Jul. 29, 2023

Mr Roper said a Muscovy duck had died after eating a dead fish, while a large number of black-headed gulls had disappeared after picking up dead fish floating on the water.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2023

Muscovy — the core of Russian history and identity — developed on the periphery of Europe until later centuries.

From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2021

The deadline was Friday; as I write this, the most recent photo to arrive was of a Muscovy duck swimming in Pastoral Pond Park, Montgomery County, Texas.

From New York Times • Mar. 28, 2020

“As soon as the Muscovy flaps, that falcon will dive and hit the net.”

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George