Oasis
[əʊ'eɪsɪs] or [o'esɪs]
Definition
(noun.) a fertile tract in a desert (where the water table approaches the surface).
Checker: Mollie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A fertile or green spot in a waste or desert, esp. in a sandy desert.
Editor: Nell
Definition
n. a fertile spot in a sandy desert: any place of rest or pleasure in the midst of toil and gloom:—pl. Oases (ō-ā′sēz).
Checked by Danny
Examples
- It is no sandy plain, nor any circumscribed and scant oasis I seem to realize. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He travelled four hundred miles to the remote oasis of the oracle of Ammon. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Miss Summerson, said Mr. Guppy, rising, this is indeed an oasis. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The gushing fountains which sparkle in the sun, must not be stopped in mere caprice; the oasis in the desert of Sahara must not be plucked up idly. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The priests of Ammon Ra, about the time of the XVIIIth or XIXth Dynasty (_circa_ 1400 B.C.), had set up in an oasis of the desert a temple and oracle. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This house has been an oasis. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Damascus is simply an oasis--that is what it is. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
Checker: Melanie