West In·dies

(ĭn′dēz)

An archipelago between southeast North America and northern South America, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean and including the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Bahama Islands. The original inhabitants were Caribs and Arawaks. Several of the islands were sighted and explored by Columbus during his voyages of 1492-1504. The first permanent European settlement was made by the Spanish on Hispaniola in 1496. During the colonial period the English, French, and Dutch also laid claim to various islands, and the United States acquired Puerto Rico and part of the Virgin Islands in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

West Indian 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.

West Indies

(ˈɪndɪz)

n (functioning as singular or plural)

(Placename) an archipelago off Central America, extending over 2400 km (1500 miles) in an arc from the peninsula of Florida to Venezuela, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean: consists of the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Bahamas; largest island is Cuba. Area: over 235 000 sq km (91 000 sq miles). Also called: the Caribbean

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

West′ In′dies

1. (used with a pl. v.) Also called the Indies. an archipelago in the N Atlantic between North and South America, comprising the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Bahamas.

2. Federation of. Also called West′ In′dies Federa′tion. a former federation (1958–62) of the British islands in the Caribbean, comprising Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, and the Windward and Leeward island colonies.

West′ In′dian, n., adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

West Indies - the string of islands between North America and South America; a popular resort area

the Indies

obeah, obi - (West Indies) followers of a religious system involving witchcraft and sorcery

Anguilla - a British colony in the West Indies

Caribbean - region including the Caribbean Islands

Cayman Islands - a British colony in the Caribbean to the northwest of Jamaica; an international banking center

Montserrat - a volcanic island in the Caribbean; in the West Indies

British West Indies - the islands in the West Indies that were formerly under British control, including the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad

Antilles - a group of islands in the West Indies

French West Indies - the islands in the Lesser Antilles that are administered by France

Virgin Islands - a group of islands in northeastern West Indies (east of Puerto Rico) discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493; owned by United States and Britain

Trinidad - an island in West Indies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela

Tobago - island in West Indies

Bahama Islands, Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahamas - island country in the Atlantic to the east of Florida and Cuba; a popular winter resort

Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east

Anguillan - a native or inhabitant of the island of Anguilla in the West Indies

West Indian - a native or inhabitant of the West Indies

Translations

جُزُرُ الهِنْد الغَرْبِيَّة

Karibik

Vestindien

Länsi-Intia

Karibi

西インド諸島

서인도 제도

Västindien

หมู่เกาะอินเดียตะวันตกในทะเลแคริบเบียน

Batı Hint Adaları

Tây Ấn

西印度群岛

West Indies

[ˌwɛstˈɪndiz] npl
the West Indies → les Antilles fpl anglaises, les Caraïbes fpl
in the West Indies → aux Antilles anglaises, aux Caraïbes

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

West Indies

npl the West Indies → le Indie Occidentali

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

West Indies

→ جُزُرُ الهِنْد الغَرْبِيَّة Karibik Vestindien Westindische Inseln Δυτικές Ινδίες Antillas Länsi-Intia Antilles Karibi Indie occidentali 西インド諸島 서인도 제도 West-Indië Vestindia Indie Zachodnie Antilhas Вест-Индия Västindien หมู่เกาะอินเดียตะวันตกในทะเลแคริบเบียน Batı Hint Adaları Tây Ấn 西印度群岛

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In the chair sits a man of strong and sturdy frame, whose face has been roughened by northern tempests and blackened by the burning sun of the West Indies. He wears an immense periwig, flowing down over his shoulders.

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As for the great burnings by lightnings, which are often in the West Indies, they are but narrow.

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Reported fit for home service for a year or two, and so I was sent off to the West Indies."

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David Faux for the West Indies, that the vacant shop in the marketplace at Grimworth was understood to have been let to the stranger with a sallow complexion and a buff cravat, whose first appearance had caused some excitement in the bar of the Woolpack, where he had called to wait for the coach.

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If want to know more, I'm nineteen years old, and I come from the West Indies."

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'Now look here, father.--Mr Edward has come to England from the West Indies. When he was lost sight of (I ran away on the same day, father), he made a voyage to one of the islands, where a school-friend of his had settled; and, finding him, wasn't too proud to be employed on his estate, and--and in short, got on well, and is prospering, and has come over here on business of his own, and is going back again speedily.

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I fancy I tried to convey to him my (utterly unfounded) impression that the West Indies awaited my coming.

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"His name is Mason, sir; and he comes from the West Indies; from Spanish Town, in Jamaica, I think."

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As to setting them on shore, I told them indeed that was an exceeding difficulty to us, for that the ship was bound to the East Indies; and though we were driven out of our course to the westward a very great way, and perhaps were directed by Heaven on purpose for their deliverance, yet it was impossible for us wilfully to change our voyage on their particular account; nor could my nephew, the captain, answer it to the freighters, with whom he was under charter to pursue his voyage by way of Brazil; and all I knew we could do for them was to put ourselves in the way of meeting with other ships homeward bound from the West Indies, and get them a passage, if possible, to England or France.

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Le Quoi—he has been in the West Indies, and has seen sugar made.

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The only light I can throw upon this enigma, is by remarking that banks of the most irregular forms appear to be now forming in some seas, as in parts of the West Indies and in the Red Sea, and that their sides are exceedingly steep.

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This was no other than Captain William Dobbin, of His Majesty's Regiment of Foot, returned from yellow fever, in the West Indies, to which the fortune of the service had ordered his regiment, whilst so many of his gallant comrades were reaping glory in the Peninsula.

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