a. and sb. rare. [f. (Nova) Zembla = Russ. Novaya Zemlya ‘new land’] a. adj. Belonging to Nova Zembla, a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean north of Archangel in Russia; hence, arctic. b. sb. A native or inhabitant of Nova Zembla.

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1674.  trans. La Martinière’s New Voy., 34. Samoiedes, Siberians, Zemblians. Ibid., 122. We descryed … a Zemblane in a Canoe.

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1749.  Cawthorn, Poems (1771), 179.

          Immortal Halley! thy unwearied soul
On wisdom’s pinion flew from pole to pole,
Th’ uncertain compass to its task reftor’d,
Each ocean fathom’d, and each wind explor’d,
Commanded trade with ev’ry breeze to fly,
And gave to Britain half the zemblian sky.

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1806.  M. A. Shee, Rhymes on Art (ed. 3), 10.

        Where freedom, man’s most cheering sunshine, glows,
Whether on Lybian sands, or Zemblan snows.

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