Chesapeake
name, noun
name, noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any member of a Native American tribe that once inhabited the area now known as South Hampton Roads in Virginia, United States. historical
- 2 Ellipsis of Chesapeake Bay. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Proper Noun
- 1 A number of places in the United States:; An extinct town in Warren County, Indiana.
- 2 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Lawrence County, Missouri.
- 3 A number of places in the United States:; A village in Lawrence County, Ohio.
- 4 A number of places in the United States:; An independent city in south-east Virginia.
- 5 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Northampton County, Virginia.
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- 6 A number of places in the United States:; A town in Kanawha County, West Virginia.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States."
Etymology
From Chesepiook, from Algonquin chesepiooc. It was widely believed for a long time that "Chesapeake" means something like "Great Shellfish Bay." However, according to Blair Rudes, linguist at the University of North Carolina, the name might actually mean something like "Great Water," or it might have been simply the name of a village at the bay's mouth.
Related phrases
More for "chesapeake"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.