mainland

Etymology

From main +‎ land. Compare Scots mayn-land, magan-land, madin-land (“mainland”), Faroese meginland (“mainland”), Icelandic meginland (“mainland”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ̪nlənd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

mainland (plural mainlands)

1. The main landmass of a country or continent.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     ...I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.

   • 2005, comment (not durably archived):

     You may have not realised when I was using the term mainland Europe, I was excluding the British Isles.

References

• mainland on Wikipedia.Wikipedia