Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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name
Ellipsis of the Shetland Islands: an archipelago and council area of Scotland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A historical county of Scotland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A particular breed of pony.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A pony of this breed.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A particular breed of sheep.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A sheep of this breed.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative letter-case form of shetland: light, loose wool fabric.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Lightweight, loosely twisted wool fabric.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a small sheepdog resembling a collie that was developed in the Shetland Islands
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Shetland sheepdog, Shetland sheep dog
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: shepherd dog, sheepdog, sheep dog
noun
an archipelago of about 100 islands in the North Atlantic off the north coast of Scotland
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Shetland Islands, Zetland
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: archipelago
History
From Scots Shetland, Middle Scots Ȝetland, from Old Norse Hjaltland, by surface analysis, hjalt (“hilt”) + land (“land”). Andrew Jennings suggests the name derives from the tribal name Calēdonēs (as in Caledonia), considering the geographer Ptolemy already called the sea north of Scotland ὠκεανός Δουηκαλεδονίος (ōkeanós Douēkaledoníos); if this is correct, the borrowing into Germanic would need to have occurred at such an early date that it took part in the Germanic sound-shift, changing *kalid- to *halit-, after which it underwent folk etymological reshaping to Old Norse hjalt (“hilt”).
From Shetland sheep.
