Amazon — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.

   Usage

   • Greek

   Related words

   AmazonomachiaAmazonomachygladiatrixshieldmaidenValkyrie

   Examples

   When, therefore, one envisions a matriarchy, one should not conjure up visions of a gang of Amazons lopping off breasts and testicles to rule by force of arms.

2. A female warrior.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   In some parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, amazon cultures still existed during the Middle Ages, such as that ruled by Queen Nzingha in Angola, who led her amazon army against the Portuguese in a series of wars during the first half of the seventeenth century. In Dahomey also in traditionally gynarchal West Africa, the army was made up of amazons even through the nineteenth century.

3. A tall, strong, or athletic woman.

Proper noun

1. A river in South America, that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the Atlantic.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • sometimes

2. A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • sometimes

   Examples

   Amazon milk frog

   In February, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe in Brazil made brief contact with the outside world before returning to the Amazon rainforest.

Noun

1. Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Proper noun

1. Amazon.com Inc., a very large Internet retailer.

   Examples

   Google is one of several Big Tech firms that has made an aggressive push into gaming in recent years, along with Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB).

Verb

1. To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick and mortar competition.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Those who hesitate risk being "amazoned," forfeiting business to an Internet newcomer, in the way that bookstore chains have lost ground to Amazon.com Inc., the online bookseller.

   Venture capitalists' desks are thick with business plans promising ‘we're going to Amazon the insurance/travel/property business...’

   More examples (1)

   Take the example of MetalSite.com, which is owned by steel companies. The steel companies aren't getting "Amazoned" by a start-up but, rather, they are doing the "Amazoning" within their own industry.

   Amazon.com may soon be "amazoning" a few more industries.

   More examples (4)

   Gone are the days when they agonized about being "Amazoned", or blind-sided by a dot-com ....

   In other industries, established companies are pulling people and money away from their Internet operations, as their fear of being "Amazoned" by start-ups has subsided.

   Meanwhile, traditional companies would be obliterated — "Amazoned" — by Internet upstarts.

   "Everybody was afraid of getting Amazoned," Mr. Landan said. "They didn't want to get left behind."

2. To order (something) on Amazon.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   […] “There are people who Uber everywhere, who Seamless everything, who Amazon everything, and render their lives completely smooth.”

Noun

1. (Greek mythology) one of a nation of women warriors of Scythia (who burned off the right breast in order to use a bow and arrow more effectively)

   Broader terms

   mythical being