Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for America
America, proper n. [med. It. < Germanic 'home ruler'.] (webplay: Columbus).
- Latinized form of Amerigo (Vespucci); name for the West Indies; name of a Florentine who explored the western hemisphere; name that geographer Martin Waldseemuller gave to the western continents; name for North America, Central America, South America, and surrounding regions; name for the United States including ED's home in New England; [fig.] Eden; Columbia; El Dorado; the New World; the Promised Land; land of opportunity; remote paradise with rich natural resources; bedazzling spacious frontier; (see ED letters).
- Phrase (see North America).
- Phrase (see South America).
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