Heathrow

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The largest international airport serving London, located to the west of the city and handling huge numbers of flights ; a small village in the county of Surrey in southern England
2. A major air hub near London through which many global flights pass ; a settlement in Surrey, southeast England, known mainly by its name
3. The principal airport of the British capital, situated west of central London ; a village in the English county of Surrey

Etymology: Heathrow is not a word that existed before the airport. It is a place name, and the place it names was a small hamlet called Heath Row, made up of two Middle English words: "heth", meaning heath, the open uncultivated land covered in low shrubs, and "rew", meaning a row, a line of houses or dwellings. So the name describes a line of cottages on the heath. The hamlet was wiped away when the airport was built, and the name then passed to the airport itself, which kept the old village's name long after its houses were gone. The story is an unusual one for an English place name: the name survived the place it described, and became far better known than the village ever was. Today most people who use the word have never heard of the hamlet, and the airport has become its only living meaning.