Also 7 chersoness(e, 8–9 in Lat. form chersonesus. [ad. L. chersonēsus, a. Gr. χερσόνησος peninsula, f. χέρσος dry land + νῆσος island; spec. the Thracian peninsula west of the Hellespont.]
A peninsula. (Now mostly poetic or rhetorical.)
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 405. Within the Chersonese of the Rhodians.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., i. Hayle’s vaster mouth doth make A chersonese thereof.
1635. R. N., trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., II. 176. A Byland or Chersonesse.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 392. Thence To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul, Down to the golden Chersonese.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7), I. 408. This little Chersonese, called The Land’s End.
1850. W. Irving, Mahomet, I. 13. That great chersonese or peninsula … known by the name of Arabia.
