Heb·ri·des

(hĕb′rĭ-dēz′) also Western Isles

An island group of western and northwest Scotland in the Atlantic Ocean, divided into the Inner Hebrides, closer to the Scottish mainland, and the Outer Hebrides, to the northwest. Settled by ancient Celts, the islands lay under Norwegian rule from the 10th to the 13th century, when they were ceded by treaty to the Scots.

Heb′ri·de′an adj. & n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Hebrides

(ˈhɛbrɪˌdiːz)

pl n

(Placename) the Hebrides a group of over 500 islands off the W coast of Scotland: separated by the North Minch, Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides: the chief islands are Skye, Raasay, Rum, Eigg, Coll, Tiree, Mull, Jura, Colonsay, and Islay (Inner Hebrides), and Lewis with Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra (Outer Hebrides). Also known as: the Western Isles

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Heb•ri•des

(ˈhɛb rɪˌdiz)

n.pl.

a group of islands (Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides) off the W coast of and belonging to Scotland. 29,615; ab. 2900 sq. mi. (7500 sq. km).Also called Western Isles.

Heb`ri•de′an, adj., n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Hebrides - a group of more than 500 islands off the western coast of Scotland

Hebridean Islands, Hebridean Isles, Western Islands, Western Isles

Scotland - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts

Inner Hebrides - islands between the Outer Hebrides and the western coast of Scotland

Outer Hebrides - a 130-mile long archipelago to the northwest of Scotland

Translations

Hebriden

Hebrides

[ˈhebrɪdiːz] NPL → Hébridas fpl
see also outer

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Hebrides

[ˈhɛbrɪdiːz] n
the Hebrides → les Hébrides fpl

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Hebrides

pl → Hebriden pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Hebrides

[ˈhɛbrɪˌdiːz] npl the Hebrides → le Ebridi

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees That palpitate like the chill seas Around the misty Hebrides! Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven That rustle through the unquiet Heaven Uneasily, from morn till even, Over the violets there that lie In myriad types of the human eye - Over the lilies there that wave And weep above a nameless grave!

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On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the New Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.

Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides. There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the hilt.

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All through the New Hebrides and the Solomons and up among the atolls on the Line, during this period under a tropic sun, rotten with malaria, and suffering from a few minor afflictions such as Biblical leprosy with the silvery skin, I did the work of five men.

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Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides, Katharine?" She looked in a strangely beseeching way at her daughter.

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"Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, Boils round the naked, melancholy isles Of farthest Thule; and the Atlantic surge Pours in among the stormy Hebrides."

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What in the Hebrides and other places, where the Sight is a cult--a belief--is called 'the doom'-- the court from which there is no appeal.

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Even as it was, I judged by the wailing of a great number of gulls that went crying and fishing round the ship, that she must have drifted pretty near the coast or one of the islands of the Hebrides; and at last, looking out of the door of the round-house, I saw the great stone hills of Skye on the right hand, and, a little more astern, the strange isle of Rum.

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But he traveled in a more comfortable manner, and his journey was a much longer one, for he went as far as the Hebrides. It was a wonderful expedition for a man of sixty-four, especially in those days when there were no trains and little ease in the way of traveling, and when much of it had to be done on rough ponies or in open boats.

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Indeed it appears from Boswell's account that they were personally together, all told, only during a total of one hundred and eighty days at intermittent intervals, plus a hundred more continuously when in 1773 they went on a tour to the Hebrides. Boswell, however, made a point of recording in minute detail, sometimes on the spot, all of Johnson's significant conversation to which he listened, and of collecting with the greatest care his letters and all possible information about him.

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I remember one, a calcined Scotchman from the New Hebrides. It was a great drinking.

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We blackbirded from the New Hebrides and the Line Islands over to the westward clear through the Louisades, New Britain, New Ireland, and New Hanover.

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