1.
[syn: Iroquois League, League of Iroquois, Five Nations, Six Nations]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Nation \Na"tion\, n. [F. nation, L. natio nation, race, orig., a
being born, fr. natus, p. p. of nasci, to be born, for
gnatus, gnasci, from the same root as E. kin. [root]44. See
Kin kindred, and cf. Cognate, Natal, Native.]
1. (Ethnol.) A part, or division, of the people of the earth,
distinguished from the rest by common descent, language,
or institutions; a race; a stock.
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All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.
--Rev. vii. 9.
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2. The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an
independent government of their own.
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A nation is the unity of a people. --Coleridge.
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Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a
nation. --F. S. Key.
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3. Family; lineage. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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4.
(a) One of the divisions of university students in a
classification according to nativity, formerly common
in Europe.
(b) (Scotch Universities) One of the four divisions (named
from the parts of Scotland) in which students were
classified according to their nativity.
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5. A great number; a great deal; -- by way of emphasis; as, a
nation of herbs. --Sterne.
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Five nations. See under Five.
Law of nations. See International law, under
International, and Law.
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Syn: people; race. See People.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Five \Five\ (f[imac]v), a. [OE. fif, five, AS. f[imac]f,
f[imac]fe; akin to D. vijf, OS. f[imac]f, OHG. finf, funf, G.
f["u]nf, Icel. fimm, Sw. & Sw. Dan. fem, Goth. fimf, Lith.
penki, W. pump, OIr. c['o]ic, L. quinque, Gr. pe`nte, [AE]ol.
pe`mpe, Skr. pa[~n]can. [root]303. Cf. Fifth, Cinque,
Pentagon, Punch the drink, Quinary.]
Four and one added; one more than four.
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Five nations (Ethnol.), a confederacy of the Huron-Iroquois
Indians, consisting of five tribes: Mohawks, Onondagas,
Cayugas, Oneidas, and Senecas. They inhabited the region
which is now the State of new York.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Five Nations
n 1: a league of Iroquois tribes including originally the
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five
Nations); after 1722 they were joined by the Tuscarora (the
Six Nations) [syn: Iroquois League, League of Iroquois,
Five Nations, Six Nations]