Serbonian

English

Etymology

From Serbonis +‎ -ian.

Adjective

Serbonian (comparative more Serbonian, superlative most Serbonian)

1. Relating to the lake of Sirbonis in Egypt, which by reason of the sand blowing into it had a deceptive appearance of being solid land, but was a bog.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog […]
     Where armies whole have sunk.

Alternative forms

• Sirbonian

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Serbonian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• borinanes