o|cean

o|cean «OH shuhn», noun.

1. the great body of salt water that covers almost three fourths of the earth's surface; the sea: »

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll (Byron).

SYNONYM(S): main, deep.

2. any of its four main divisions; the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans. The waters around the Antarctic continent are considered by some to form a separate ocean.

3. Figurative. a vast expanse or quantity: »

oceans of trouble. I turned and looked back over the undulating ocean of grass (Francis Parkman).

╂[< Old French ocean, learned borrowing from Latin ōceanus < Greek Okeanós Oceanus]