GIBRALTAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Gibraltar mean? 

• GIBRALTAR (noun)
  The noun GIBRALTAR has 1 sense:

1. location of a colony of the United Kingdom on a limestone promontory at the southern tip of Spain; strategically important because it can control the entrance of ships into the Mediterranean; one of the Pillars of Hercules

  Familiarity information: GIBRALTAR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GIBRALTAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Location of a colony of the United Kingdom on a limestone promontory at the southern tip of Spain; strategically important because it can control the entrance of ships into the Mediterranean; one of the Pillars of Hercules

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Calpe; Gibraltar; Rock of Gibraltar

Instance hypernyms:

colony; settlement (a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government)

foreland; head; headland; promontory (a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea))

Meronyms (members of "Gibraltar"):

Gibraltarian (a native or inhabitant of Gibraltar)

Holonyms ("Gibraltar" is a part of...):

Europe (the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use 'Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles)

Pillars of Hercules (the two promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; according to legend they were formed by Hercules)

Derivation:

Gibraltarian (of or relating to Gibraltar or its inhabitants)

 Context examples 

It was at Gibraltar, mother, I know.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we never were within hail o' aught.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A dependency in Southwestern Europe, bordering the Strait of Gibraltar, on the southern coast of Spain.

(Gibraltar, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A dependency in southwestern Europe, on the southern coast of Spain, bordering the Strait of Gibraltar.

(Gibraltar, NCI Thesaurus)

He honoured the warm-hearted, blunt fondness of the young sailor, which led him to say, with his hands stretched towards Fanny's head, Do you know, I begin to like that queer fashion already, though when I first heard of such things being done in England, I could not believe it; and when Mrs. Brown, and the other women at the Commissioner's at Gibraltar, appeared in the same trim, I thought they were mad; but Fanny can reconcile me to anything; and saw, with lively admiration, the glow of Fanny's cheek, the brightness of her eye, the deep interest, the absorbed attention, while her brother was describing any of the imminent hazards, or terrific scenes, which such a period at sea must supply.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Dick had been left ill at Gibraltar, with a recommendation from his former captain to Captain Wentworth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the East Indies, and back again, and only once; besides being in different places about home: Cork, and Lisbon, and Gibraltar.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)