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No man's land

//ˈnoʊˌmænzˌlænd// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The name of a settlement:; A hamlet in Morval parish and St Martin-by-Looe parish, east Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX2756).
  2. 2
    The name of a settlement:; A hamlet in Chilcomb parish, Winchester district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU5129).
Noun
  1. 1
    The ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.

    "Near-synonym: kill zone"

  2. 2
    the ambiguous region between two categories or states or conditions (usually containing some features of both) wordnet
  3. 3
    A space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
  4. 4
    an unoccupied area between the front lines of opposing armies wordnet
  5. 5
    The part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
Show 8 more definitions
  1. 6
    land that is unowned and uninhabited (and usually undesirable) wordnet
  2. 7
    A place where no one can or should be present. figuratively

    "Today Qingshan district is a patchwork of tiny fields, polluted streams and roadside markets selling building materials. But the city government is in the process of transforming this no-man’s-land into a sparkling new suburb."

  3. 8
    The area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
  4. 9
    An area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
  5. 10
    Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:; Tracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain. historical
  6. 11
    Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:; The stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.

    "At the last Polish station all train officials left, except the locomotive crew, and we slowly trundled over a strongly fortified no man's land for a few hundred yards until we drew in to the first station in Russia."

  7. 12
    Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:; Land that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
  8. 13
    The fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Etymology

Originally from Middle English Nomanneslond, which first appears c. 1350. Revived with new senses in a dispatch printed in the Times newspaper by Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton writing as "Eyewitness".

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