Marco Polo en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈmɑɹkoʊ ˈpoʊloʊ/
- (US) audio
Etymology
After Marco Polo (1254–1324), Venetian merchant, whose travels were documented in a book that introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. The Italian name is from Latin Marcus + Paulus.
Meanings
-
(countable) A renowned traveler.
Gene Hunt: Come on, then, Marco Polo. Which way? Sam Tyler: [consulting a blueprint] It's this way.
2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3:Ibn Battuta has inevitably been compared with him and has usually taken second prize as "the Marco Polo of the Muslim world" or "the Marco Polo of the tropics"
2004, Ross E. Dunn, chapter 1, in The adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler of the fourteenth century, page 5:
- (uncountable) A hunting game—usually played in a swimming pool—where the seeker moves with closed eyes or blindfolded, finding the other players by calling "Marco" and reacting to the other players' replies of "Polo".
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marco Polos | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| marco polo | alternative | lexicographic | |
| marcopolo | alternative | lexicographic | |
| Marcopolo | alternative | lexicographic |