'''America''', the name of a land mass of the Western hemisphere, consisting of the two continents of North and South America, joined by the Isthmus of Panama; freq. used also as the name of the United States of America; app. first used in M. Waldseemüller Cosmographiae Introductio (1507) < Americus, Latinized form of the name of Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), Italian explorer who navigated the coast of South America in 1501.] | '''America''', the name of a land mass of the Western hemisphere, consisting of the two continents of North and South America, joined by the Isthmus of Panama; freq. used also as the name of the United States of America; app. first used in M. Waldseemüller Cosmographiae Introductio (1507) < Americus, Latinized form of the name of Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), Italian explorer who navigated the coast of South America in 1501.] |