island
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈaɪlənd/
text: -
note: Indic
ipa: /aj.læɳɖ/
rhymes: -aɪlənd
Forms: form: islands
form: islanding
form: islanded
form: islanded
form: iland
form: ylond
form: ylelond
form: yland
Etymology: From earlier iland, from Middle English iland, yland, ylond, from Old English īeġland, from Proto-West Germanic *auwjuland, from Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą (from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“island, waterland, meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂) + *landą (“land”), equivalent to ey + land.
Doublet of Öland. Cognate with Scots island, iland, yland (“island”), West Frisian eilân (“island”), Saterland Frisian Ailound (“island”), Dutch eiland (“island”), Low German Eiland (“island”), German Eiland (“island”), Swedish ö (“island”), Öland (“Sweden's second largest island”), Danish ø (“island”), Norwegian øy (“island”), øyland (“large island”), Icelandic eyland (“island”).
The insertion of ⟨s⟩—a 16th century spelling modification—is due to a change in spelling to the unrelated term isle, which previously lacked s (cf. Middle English ile, yle). The re-addition was mistakenly carried over to include iland as well. Related also to German Aue (“water-meadow”), Latin aqua (“water”). More at ea.
Senses: examples: text: We paused at little river cities along the way and walked upon their bushy dikes, and heard tales of overflows in flood seasons, when four feet or more of water islanded the houses.
ref: 1933, Harriet Monroe, Poetry, volume 42:
text: The car soon seemed islanded in water.
ref: 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 138:
glosses: To surround with water; make into an island.
examples: text: God dwells in light! Before the ocean of unmeasured space, was islanded with stars serenely bright, reflecting back the radiance of his face - he dwelt above in heaven’s immortal bliss, thinking into existence that which is.
ref: 1842, T. H. Chivers, “The Song of Seralim: A Celestial Melologue”, in Magnolia; Or Southern Appalachian, volume II, number 1, page 52:
text: This Apulia is a land of vast pastures and cornfields and olive gardens, islanded with many rich cities, notable if only for the splendour of their churches,[…]
ref: 1915, Edward Hutton, Naples and Southern Italy, page 22:
text: She knew that the town was islanded with many waters - the Hudson, the Harlem and the East rivers, and the Bay - but the rivers were hard to find in the universal velvetiness.
ref: 1930, Rupert Hughes, Ladies’ Man, page 143:
glosses: To set, dot (as if) with islands.
examples: text: The turkey's nest was islanded with a fragrant swath,—the "heft" of the crop noted and rejoiced over,—the tons of good timothy and clover calculated,— […]
ref: 1865, [Adeline Dutton Train Whitney], “The Secret at the Hartshornes”, in The Gayworthys: A Story of Threads and Thrums. […], Boston, Mass.: [A. K.] Loring, […], →OCLC, page 49:
text: High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam / Islanded in Severn stream.
ref: 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXVII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC:
glosses: To isolate.
Synonyms: isle
Related terms: archipelago
atoll
cay
key
continent
peninsula
ait
eyot
holm
braid bar
crannog