a. and sb. [f. L. amazoni-us + -AN.] A. adj.
1. Of, pertaining to, resembling, or befitting the Amazons or an Amazon; warlike, or masculine, as a woman.
1594. 2nd Pt. Contention (1843), 131. To triumph like an Amazonian trull Vpon his woes.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 64. These Amazonian dames begin to wax weary of their mates.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 104, ¶ 3. This Amazonian Hunting-Habit for Ladies.
1837. W. Howitt, Rur. Life, III. vi. (1862), 285. His amazonian lady, half the head taller than himself.
1844. Blackw. Mag., LVI. 214. Caps were dragged off, and nails shown with amazonian spirit.
2. Of the river Amazon (so called from the female warriors there seen by the Spaniards), or its basin.
1863. Bates, Nat. on Amazons, i. 10. The only Amazonian species.
1875. Blackie’s Pop. Encycl., 133/1. The Amazonian water system.
B. sb. An Amazon (fabulous).
a. 1704. T. Brown, Drunkenness, Wks. 1730, I. 37. His Hydra, and Amazonians, and the hellish Cerberus.
