Easter Island

so called because it was discovered by Dutch navigator Jakob Roggeveen on April 2, 1722, which was Easter Monday. It earlier had been visited by English pirate Edward Davis (1695), but he neglected to name it. The native Polynesian name is Mata-kite-ran "Eyes that Watch the Stars."

also from 1722

Trends of Easter Island

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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Puerto Rico

island in the Greater Antilles group of the West Indies, Spanish, literally "rich harbor;" see port (n.1) + rich (adj.)....The name was given in 1493 by Christopher Columbus to the large bay on the north side of the island; he called the island...Over time the name of the bay became the name of the island and the name of the island was taken by the town that grew up...

Lent

"period between Ash Wednesday and Easter," late 14c., short for Lenten (n.)..."the forty days of fasting before Easter" in the Christian calendar (early 12c.), from Old English lencten "springtime, spring...

Florida

U.S. state, formerly a Spanish colony, probably from Spanish Pascua florida, literally "flowering Easter," a Spanish name...

isle

late 13c., ile, from Old French ile, earlier isle, from Latin insula "island," a word of uncertain origin...."theoretically possible as far as the phonetics go, but being 'in the sea' is not a very precise description of what an island...is; furthermore, the Indo-Europeans seem to have indicated with 'island' mainly 'river islands.' ......He proposes the same lost word as the source of Old Irish inis, Welsh ynys "island" and Greek nēsos "island."...

insular

1610s, "of or pertaining to an island," from Late Latin insularis "of or belonging to an island," from Latin insula "island...

canary

Spanish canario "canary bird," literally "of the Canary Islands" (where it is indigenous), from Latin Insula Canaria "Canary Island...," largest of the Fortunate Isles, literally "island of dogs" (canis, derived adjective canarius, from PIE root *kwon- "dog...The name was extended to the whole island group (Canariæ Insulæ) by the time of Arnobius (c. 300)....[Recent DNA analysis (2019) of ancient remains on the island suggest the indigenous people were of typical North African...

holm

"small island in a river; river meadow," late Old English, from Old Norse holmr "small island," especially in a river or...Obsolete, but preserved in place names, where it has various senses derived from the basic one of "island:" "'raised ground...

plumb

early 14c., "a mass of lead hung on a string to show the vertical line" (mid-14c. as "the metal lead"), from Old French *plombe, plomee "sounding lead," and directly from Late Latin *plumba, originally plural of Latin plumbum "lead (the metal), lead ball; pipe; pencil," a word of

naughty

late 14c., nowghty, noughti "needy, having nothing," also "evil, immoral, corrupt, unclean," from nought, naught "evil, an evil act; nothingness; a trifle; insignificant person; the number zero" (from Old English nawiht "nothing;" see naught)) + -y (2). Specific meaning "sexually

dapper

mid-15c., "elegant, neat, trim," from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper "bold, strong, sturdy," later "quick, nimble," from Proto-Germanic *dapraz (source also of Old High German tapfar "heavy," German tapfer "brave"), perhaps with ironical shift of meaning, from PIE root

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updated on October 10, 2017

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Dictionary entries near Easter Island

easel

easement

easily

east

Easter

Easter Island

easterling

easterly

eastern

easterner

easternmost