mainland

From Middle English mayne londe; equivalent to main +‎ land. Compare Scots mayn-land, magan-land, madin-land (“mainland”), Faroese meginland (“mainland”), Icelandic meginland (“mainland”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪnlənd/, /-lænd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪnlænd/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /mæɪnlænd/

• Audio (US)

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mainland (plural mainlands)

1. The continent; the principal land, as distinguished from islands or a peninsula.
   • 1719 April 25​, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407:

     ...I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.

   • 2005, comment (not durably archived):

     You may have not realised when I was using the term mainland Europe, I was excluding the British Isles.

2. The principal island of a group.

• land

• mainlander

• mainland on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• almandin