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Webster 1913 Edition

Amazon

Am′a-zon

,
Noun.
[L., fr. Gr. [GREEK].]
1.
One of a fabulous race of female warriors in Scythia; hence, a female warrior.
2.
A tall, strong, masculine woman; a virago.
3.
(Zool.)
A name numerous species of South American parrots of the genus
Chrysotis
Amazon ant
(Zool.)
,
a species of ant (
Polyergus rufescens
), of Europe and America. They seize by conquest the larvæ and nymphs of other species and make slaves of them in their own nests.

Webster 1828 Edition

Amazon

AM'AZON

,
Noun.
[This is said to be formed of a neg and breast. History informs us, that the Amazons cut off their right breast, that it might not incommode them in shooting and hurling the javelin. This is doubtless a fable.]
1.
The Amazons are said by historians, to have been a race of female warriors, who founded an empire on the river Thermodon, in Asia Minor, on the coast of the Euxine. They are said to have excluded men from their society; and by their warlike enterprises, to have conquered and alarmed surrounding nations. Some writers treat these accounts as fables.
2.
By analogy, a warlike or masculine woman; a virago.
3.
This name has been given to some American females, on the banks of the largest river in the world, who joined their husbands in attacking the Spaniards that first visited the country. This trivial occurrence gave the name Amazon to that river, whose real name is Maranon.

Definition 2024

Amazon

Amazon

See also: amazon

English

Pronunciation

Noun

Amazon ‎(plural Amazons)

  1. (Greek mythology) A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.
  2. A female warrior.
  3. A tall, strong, or athletic woman.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Spanish, Río Amazonas. It is common belief that the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana fought a battle against a tribe of Tapuya natives, in which the women fought alongside the men, and that he derived the name from the Amazons in Greek mythology.

Proper noun

the Amazon

  1. A river of South America that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the South Atlantic.
  2. A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.
  3. Used attributively in compounds.
    the Amazon River; the Amazon Rainforest; the Amazon Basin
    Amazon milk frog
Translations
Derived terms

Noun

Amazon ‎(plural Amazons)

  1. Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Etymology 3

Chosen by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as a word beginning with 'A' which had existing connotations (see meanings listed in etymologies 1 & 2) of being exotic, different, and (as the Amazon River) the largest of its kind in the world.[1]

Proper noun

Amazon

  1. Amazon.com Inc, a very large internet retailer

Verb

Amazon ‎(third-person singular simple present Amazons, present participle Amazoning, simple past and past participle Amazoned)

  1. (transitive) To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick-and-mortar competition.
    • 1998, George Anders, "Discomfort Zone: Some Big Companies Long to Embrace Web But Settle for Flirtation — They Fear Online Marketing Could Cause Sales Staffs And Distributors to Rebel — A Risk of Getting ‘Amazoned’", The Wall Street Journal, 1998-11-04, p. A1.
      Those who hesitate risk being "amazoned," forfeiting business to an Internet newcomer, in the way that bookstore chains have lost ground to Amazon.com Inc., the online bookseller.
    • 1999, Andrew Wileman, "Smart cookies: Get set to Amazon", Management Today. Aug 1999, p. 79
      Venture capitalists' desks are thick with business plans promising ‘we're going to Amazon the insurance/travel/property business...’
    • 1999, Tim Smith, InternetWeek (786), "Getting Customers Totally Integrated – Cisco CIO Pete Solvik", 1999-10-25, p. 98
      Take the example of MetalSite.com, which is owned by steel companies. The steel companies aren't getting "Amazoned" by a start-up but, rather, they are doing the "Amazoning" within their own industry.
    • 1999, "Amazon Expands", InternetWeek (789), 1999-11-15, p. 11
      Amazon.com may soon be "amazoning" a few more industries.
    • 2000, Bob Tedeschi, "E-Commerce Report: Web and catalog businesses are crossing into storefront territory, creating parallel avenues of retailing", The New York Times, 2000-11-20, p. C12
      Gone are the days when they agonized about being "Amazoned", or blind-sided by a dot-com ....
    • 2001, Saul Hansell, "Web Sales of Airline Tickets Are Making Hefty Advances", The New York Times, 2001-07-04, p. A1
      In other industries, established companies are pulling people and money away from their Internet operations, as their fear of being "Amazoned" by start-ups has subsided.
    • 2001, Steve Lohr, "Gearhead Nation: A Time Out for Technophilia", The New York Times, 2001-11-18, p. WK4
      Meanwhile, traditional companies would be obliterated — "Amazoned" — by Internet upstarts.
    • 2002, Scott Harris, "Roots in Israel, Head in Silicon Valley", The New York Times, 2002-06-30, p. B8
      "Everybody was afraid of getting Amazoned," Mr. Landan said. "They didn't want to get left behind."

References

  1. ↑ Ann Byers, Jeff Bezos: the founder of amazon.com, pp. 46-7, Rosen Publishing Group, 2007, ISBN 1-4042-0717-1

Japanese

Romanization

Amazon

  1. rōmaji reading of アマゾン

Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /aˈmaː.zon/, [aˈmaː.zõ]

Noun

Amāzon f ‎(genitive Amāzonis); third declension

  1. an Amazon
  2. a female warrior

Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative Amāzon Amāzonēs
genitive Amāzonis Amāzonum
dative Amāzonī Amāzonibus
accusative Amāzonem Amāzonēs
ablative Amāzone Amāzonibus
vocative Amāzon Amāzonēs

References

amazon

amazon

See also: Amazon

English

Noun

amazon ‎(plural amazons)

  1. A tall, strong, athletic woman.
    Although the evidence for real Amazons is thin, women athletes are often dubbed amazons.
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:amazon.

Related terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών ‎(Amazṓn).

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