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Spanish Main

American  

noun

  1. (formerly) the mainland of America adjacent to the Caribbean Sea, especially the area between the mouth of the Orinoco River and the Isthmus of Panama.

  2. the Caribbean Sea: the route of the Spanish treasure galleons and a former haunt of pirates.


Spanish Main British  

noun

  1. the mainland of Spanish America, esp the N coast of South America from the Isthmus of Panama to the mouth of the Orinoco River, Venezuela

  2. the Caribbean Sea, the S part of which in colonial times was the route of Spanish treasure galleons and the haunt of pirates

"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

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.

See Examples For:

Some of the areas on the boil-water list were small, like the Spanish Main Travel Resort, an R.V. park in Hillsborough County, on the western side of the state.

From New York Times Oct. 1, 2022

The West Indies and the Spanish Main By Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope, on the way to the West Indies, does complain rather a lot about such mundane troubles as seasickness and so on.

From Salon Jun. 25, 2012

One says the looting, another marooning, still another sings the praises of pirate grog, and a fourth insists it’s the Spanish Main.

From Scientific American Mar. 8, 2012

After mutual professions of esteem and goodwill, the two Presidents took a drive about the 400-year-old capital of the Spanish Main.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1684 he went in a search in the waters of the Spanish Main for a treasure ship known to be sunk there.

From The Loyalists of Massachusetts And the Other Side of the American Revolution by Stark, James H.

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