Siberia
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A cold, inhospitable place or place of exile. figuratively
- 1 The region of Russia in Asia, stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.
"The other countries or prouinces which the Ruſſe Emperours haue gotten perforce added of late to their other dominion, are theſe with follow Twerra, Youghoria, Permia, Vadska, Boulghoria, Chernigo, Oudoria, Obdoria, Condora, with a great part of Siberia: where the people though they be not natural Ruſſes, yet obey the Emperour of Ruſſia, and are ruled by the lawes of his countrie, paying cuſtomes and taxes, as his owne people doe. […] The breadth (if you go from that part of his territorie that lieth fartheſt Weſtwarde on the Narue ſide, to the parts of Siberia eaſtward, where the Emperour hath his garriſons) is 4400. verſt or thereabouts."
Example
More examples"He went Europe by way of Siberia."
Etymology
Adopted in the 16th century, probably via Latin Sibēria, from Russian Сиби́рь (Sibírʹ) + -ia. In origin the Tatar name of a 14th-century fortress at Qashliq (Tobolsk) which became the capital of the 16th-century Khanate of Sibir, in 16th century Russian usage extended to the entire area of what is now Tyumen Oblast, and with the ongoing Russian conquest of Siberia by the 19th century to the larger area of Russia's Asian territories beyond the Ob River. The figurative sense in English arises in the 19th century (attested in 1841 according to the OED).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.