See Also: Britain(dictionary)
Britain(1)(dictionary)
Britain(2)(dictionary)
New Britain(encyclopedia)
Britain(encyclopedia)
Festival of Britain(dictionary)
Great Britain(dictionary)
Keep Britain Tidy(dictionary)
Tate Britain(dictionary)
East New Britain(tourism)

Britain(1) (iou)



Britain noun1.
[Old English Breoten, Breten, Bryten from Latin Brittones (see BRITON); later forms from Old French Bretaigne (mod. -agne), from Latin Brittan(n)ia from Brit(t)anni, corresp. to Greek Bret(t)anoi, Pret(t)anoi.]
More fully (esp. as a political term) Great Britain. As a geographical and political term: (the main island and smaller offshore islands making up) England, Scotland, and Wales, sometimes with the Isle of Man. Also (as a political term) the United Kingdom, Britain and its dependencies, (formerly) the British Empire.
Middle Britain: see MIDDLE adjective. North Britain: see NORTH adjective.
? Britain, after the Old English period, was for long used only as a historical term, but in 1604 James I & VI was proclaimed 'King of Great Britain' and this name was adopted for the then United Kingdom at the Union in 1707.
Britainer noun = BRITON noun L16-E19.