WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Samaria
    n 1: an ancient city in central Palestine founded in the 9th
         century BC as the capital of the northern Hebrew kingdom of
         Israel; the site is in present-day northwestern Jordan

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Samaria
   a watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains
   of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the "hill
   of Shomeron," a solitary mountain, a great "mamelon." It is an
   oblong hill, with steep but not inaccessible sides, and a long
   flat top. Omri, the king of Israel, purchased this hill from
   Shemer its owner for two talents of silver, and built on its
   broad summit the city to which he gave the name of "Shomeron",
   i.e., Samaria, as the new capital of his kingdom instead of
   Tirzah (1 Kings 16:24). As such it possessed many advantages.
   Here Omri resided during the last six years of his reign. As the
   result of an unsuccessful war with Syria, he appears to have
   been obliged to grant to the Syrians the right to "make streets
   in Samaria", i.e., probably permission to the Syrian merchants
   to carry on their trade in the Israelite capital. This would
   imply the existence of a considerable Syrian population. "It was
   the only great city of Palestine created by the sovereign. All
   the others had been already consecrated by patriarchal tradition
   or previous possession. But Samaria was the choice of Omri
   alone. He, indeed, gave to the city which he had built the name
   of its former owner, but its especial connection with himself as
   its founder is proved by the designation which it seems Samaria
   bears in Assyrian inscriptions, Beth-khumri ('the house or
   palace of Omri').", Stanley.

     Samaria was frequently besieged. In the days of Ahab, Benhadad
   II. came up against it with thirty-two vassal kings, but was
   defeated with a great slaughter (1 Kings 20:1-21). A second
   time, next year, he assailed it; but was again utterly routed,
   and was compelled to surrender to Ahab (20:28-34), whose army,
   as compared with that of Benhadad, was no more than "two little
   flocks of kids."

     In the days of Jehoram this Benhadad again laid siege to
   Samaria, during which the city was reduced to the direst
   extremities. But just when success seemed to be within their
   reach, they suddenly broke up the seige, alarmed by a mysterious
   noise of chariots and horses and a great army, and fled, leaving
   their camp with all its contents behind them. The famishing
   inhabitants of the city were soon relieved with the abundance of
   the spoil of the Syrian camp; and it came to pass, according to
   the word of Elisha, that "a measure of fine flour was sold for a
   shekel, and two measures of barely for a shekel, in the gates of
   Samaria" (2 Kings 7:1-20).

     Shalmaneser invaded Israel in the days of Hoshea, and reduced
   it to vassalage. He laid siege to Samaria (B.C. 723), which held
   out for three years, and was at length captured by Sargon, who
   completed the conquest Shalmaneser had begun (2 Kings 18:9-12;
   17:3), and removed vast numbers of the tribes into captivity.
   (See SARGON.)

     This city, after passing through various vicissitudes, was
   given by the emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt
   it, and called it Sebaste (Gr. form of Augustus) in honour of
   the emperor. In the New Testament the only mention of it is in
   Acts 8:5-14, where it is recorded that Philip went down to the
   city of Samaria and preached there.

     It is now represented by the hamlet of Sebustieh, containing
   about three hundred inhabitants. The ruins of the ancient town
   are all scattered over the hill, down the sides of which they
   have rolled. The shafts of about one hundred of what must have
   been grand Corinthian columns are still standing, and attract
   much attention, although nothing definite is known regarding
   them. (Comp. Micah 1:6.)

     In the time of Christ, Western Palestine was divided into
   three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Samaria occupied
   the centre of Palestine (John 4:4). It is called in the Talmud
   the "land of the Cuthim," and is not regarded as a part of the
   Holy Land at all.

     It may be noticed that the distance between Samaria and
   Jerusalem, the respective capitals of the two kingdoms, is only
   35 miles in a direct line.


Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's):

Samaria, watch-mountain