Cleveland

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A major city located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, known for its industrial history and cultural institutions
2. The largest city in Ohio, situated on Lake Erie's southern bank and historically important as a center of manufacturing and commerce
3. A city in Ohio positioned along Lake Erie, notable as a major industrial and cultural hub in the Great Lakes region

Etymology: Cleveland is a place name rather than a word that grew out of ordinary speech, and its parts are plain. The first element is the Middle English "clive" or "cleve," meaning "cliff," which descends from Old English "clif" and ultimately from a Germanic root for the same steep rock face. The second is "land," the familiar word for ground or territory. Put together, the name describes a district of cliffs. The name was first given to places in England, and the best-known is the Cleveland region in North Yorkshire, whose hills and escarpments above the Tees valley explain the choice. Because it was an English place name first, the word has no meaning beyond that origin, and its later spread to other places, including the American city, came through naming rather than through any change in sense.