Adjacent Words

Virginia definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War [syn: Virginia, Old Dominion, Old Dominion State, VA]
2: one of the British colonies that formed the United States
3: a town in northeastern Minnesota in the heart of the Mesabi Range

Merriam Webster's

geographical name state E United States capital Richmond area 40,767 square miles (105,586 square kilometers), population 7,078,515 • Virginian adjective or noun

Britannica Concise

State (pop., 1997 est.; 6,734,000), E U.S. Located on the central Atlantic seaboard, it covers an area of 40,767 sq mi (105,586 sq km); its capital is Richmond. The coastal plain, also known as the Tidewater, lies in the east, the Piedmont, in mid-state, and the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains in the west. The Potomac, Shenandoah, James, and Roanoke rivers flow through the state. It was inhabited by Amer. Indians when futile attempts were made by English navigator Sir W. Raleigh to found settlements 1584-87. Britain's first Amer. colony was founded there in 1607 at Jamestown. On the eve of the Amer. Revolution, it was the largest of the 13 colonies and one of the first to resist the British Stamp Act. Its citizens were among the leaders of the Revolutionary period and later contributed four of the country's first five presidents. In 1788 it became the 10th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Though slavery was outlawed, it continued to be an important part of Virginia's economy, and helped precipitate N. Turner's insurrection (1831). It passed an ordinance of secession in 1861, but the W part of the state refused to secede: it split off to become W. Virginia in 1863. Virginia, whose capital of Richmond was also the capital of the Confederacy, bore the brunt of military action during the Amer. Civil War. It was readmitted to the Union in 1870. Strife over state debt took over political life for the next decades, but after World War I the state's prosperity increased. World War II brought thousands to its military camps and caused the Norfolk area to boom. The federal government is Virginia's largest employer, while manufacturing is the second largest. Its port of Hampton Roads is one of the nation's leading ports. Tourism is important; its many historical sites include Colonial Williamsburg, G. Washington's Mount Vernon, T. Jefferson's Monticello, the Civil War battlefields, and Gen. R. E. Lee's house, now in Arlington National Cemetery. The College of William and Mary (founded 1693) is the country's second oldest college; the Univ. of Virginia was largely the creation of T. Jefferson.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 tobacco from Virginia. 2 a cigarette made of this. Phrases and idioms: Virginia creeper a N. American vine, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, cultivated for ornament. Virginia reel US a country dance. Virginia (or Virginian) stock a cruciferous plant, Malcolmia maritima, with white or pink flowers. Derivatives: Virginian n. & adj. Etymology: Virginia in US, orig. the first English settlement (1607), f. Virgin Queen

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Virginia Vir*gin"i*a, n. One of the States of the United States of America. -- a. Of or pertaining to the State of Virginia. Virginia cowslip (Bot.), the American lungwort (Mertensia Virginica). Virginia creeper (Bot.), a common ornamental North American woody vine (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), climbing extensively by means of tendrils; -- called also woodbine, and American ivy. [U. S.] Virginia fence. See Worm fence, under Fence. Virginia nightingale (Zo["o]l.), the cardinal bird. See under Cardinal. Virginia quail (Zo["o]l.), the bobwhite. Virginia reel, an old English contradance; -- so called in the United States. --Bartlett. Virginia stock. (Bot.) See Mahon stock.