West Indiesn.
/ˌwɛst ˈɪndɪz/, U.S. /ˌwɛst ˈɪndiz/ 1. Originally: the parts of North America first discovered by Columbus and other early navigators. Now: spec. the islands of the Caribbean.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > America > West Indies > [noun]
Indies1555
West Indies1555
West India Islands1612
Caribbean1835
1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 174 Suche thynges as I haue seene in yowre Empyre of the West Indies.
1577 R. Eden & R. Willes (title) The history of trauayle in the West and East Indies.
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises 368 b America, which we now call the West Indies.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 330 The great Burnings by Lightnings, which are often in the West Indies.
1647 A. Cowley Mistresse 15 Mine too her rich West-Indies were below, Where Mines of Gold and endless treasures grow.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. iv. §4 All those strange species of animals seen in the West-Indies.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Melo Those Melons which are produc'd in the West-Indies are generally very large.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. i. 29 He was heir to a fortune..left him by an uncle in the West Indies.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxvii. 278 Providing the infant negroes in the West Indies with flannel waistcoats.
1864 B. J. Sulivan Let. 18 Mar. in C. Darwin Corr. (2001) XII. 80 I..have been waiting in England in hopes of seeing my second boy who was returning home after three years in West Indies.
1910 H. G. Wells Hist. Mr. Polly vii. 212 He..dreamt..of the East and West Indies until his heart ached to see those sun-soaked lands before he died.
1958 Church Times 12 Sept. 3/2 It is notorious that, throughout the West Indies,..between half and three-quarters of all marriages are so-called ‘common law’ marriages, lacking the sanction of the Church.
2002 R. Williams Sing yer Heart out for Lads ii. 89 Are you telling me he left the sun and sea of the West Indies for the grey skies of London to be a bus conductor?
2. A multinational cricket team representing the West Indies.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > cricketer > [noun] > side > specific team
West Indies1886
1886 N.Y. Tribune 17 Aug. 2 (heading) The West Indies and Canada at cricket.
1939 Times 26 July 14/6 Yesterday the West Indies were all out for 133—31 runs behind.
1957 S. Selvon Ways of Sunlight 161 The series went on and West Indies making some big score and bowling out them English fellars for duck and thing.
2007 Wisden Cricketer July 19/2 West Indies have to reinvent themselves, somehow, and that doesn't mean just finding another great fast bowler.
Compounds
C1. attributive. Designating people or things relating to or connected with the West Indies.
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1577 R. Willes in R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies f. 459 The discourse of the West Indies Islandes.
1618 J. Vicars Prospectiue Glasse sig. ¶2 What talke wee of East Indian Marchandize? What of West-Indies Mines of massie Gold?
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo i. xix. 130 The payment is agreed vpon to bee made sometime after the returne of the West-Indies Fleet.
1814 T. Clark Naval Hist. U.S. (ed. 2) II. v. 210 [A ship] mounting 6 guns, with a full cargo of West Indies produce.
1879 E. Longley Student's Pocket Med. Lex. (1881) 16 Alcarnoque, bark of a West Indies plant, bitter and tonic, used in phthisic.
1929 Times 13 Sept. 6/5 The board is sending an invitation for a West Indies team to visit Australia in 1930–31.
1991 Times Educ. Suppl. 15 Feb. 30/3 Anansi, the anthropomorphised trickster spider of the West Indies folktale.
C2. † West Indies man n. Obsolete = West Indiaman n.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [noun] > trading to or from specific place
West Indies man1587
Indiaman1588
West Indy man1616
Lubecker1627
Chinaman1653
East Indiaman1675
West Indiaman1689
South-seaman1728
Levanter1812
Indianeer1840
South Spainer1856
1587 in C. Hopper Sir F. Drake's Service against Spaniards (1863) 48 Allso came the newes, that 9 West Indies men were arrived at St Lucar.
1616 J. Smith Descr. New Eng. 55 The next was a West Indies man, of 160 tuns. [Cf. West Indy adj. and West-Indiaman n.]
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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