Dictionary

no man's land en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈnəʊˌmænzˌlænd/ (UK)
• /ˈnoʊˌmænzˌlænd/ (US)
• (General-American) audio

Etymology

Originally from Middle English Nomanneslond (“an area of land outside of London utilised for executions; a swath of unowned or undesirable land; land that is subject to legal dispute”), which is first attested c. 1350 and equivalent to no man (“no one, nobody”) + -'s + land. Revived with new senses in a short story in Blackwood's Magazine in 1908 by the British Army officer Ernest Swinton (1868–1951), writing as "Ole Luk-Oie" (see the quotation), but only came into common use in the context of the Anglo-German Christmas truce of 1914, and thereafter appeared frequently in official communiqués, newspaper reports, and personnel correspondences of the members of the British Expeditionary Force.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.
   • Near-synonym: kill zone
   • Here and there in that wilderness of dead bodies—the dreadful “No-Man’s-Land” between the opposing lines—deserted guns showed up singly or in groups, glistening in the full glare of the beam or silhouetted in black against a ray behind. 1908 December, Ole Luk-Oie [pseudonym; Ernest Swinton], “The Point of View”, in Blackwood’s Magazine, volume CLXXXIV, number MCXVIII, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, chapter I, page 671, column 2:
2. (countable, uncountable) A space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
3. (countable, uncountable) The part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
4. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A place where no one can or should be present.
   • There’s a 137-square-mile chunk of Franklin County […] often referred to as "no man’s land" because it isn’t protected by any of the county’s four fire districts. 2006 March 25, Melissa Hoyos, “Area has no fire protection […]”, in Tri-City Herald, volume 104, number 84, Pasco, Wash.: McClatchy Company, →OCLC, page A1, column 2:
   • Now, George, if you’re going to consider this question from the point of view of poetry, you’re off to No Man’s Land, where I won’t follow you. 1867 April 6, T[homas] W[illiam] Robertson, “Act I.[—The Little House in Stangate—Courtship.]”, in Caste: An Original Comedy, London: […] J[ohn] Ogden and Co., […], →OCLC, page 8:
   • Today Qingshan district is a patchwork of tiny fields, polluted streams and roadside markets selling building materials. But the city government is in the process of transforming this no-man’s-land into a sparkling new suburb. 2012, Tom Miller, “The Construction Orgy: Paving the Fields”, in China's Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History, London; New York, N.Y.: Zed Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 114:
5. (countable, uncountable) The area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
6. (countable, uncountable) An area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
7. (countable, historical, uncountable) Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially: ▸ Tracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain.
8. (countable, uncountable) Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially: ▸ The stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.
   • At the last Polish station all train officials left, except the locomotive crew, and we slowly trundled over a strongly fortified no man's land for a few hundred yards until we drew in to the first station in Russia. 1954 April, P. E. Witham, “A Trans-Siberian Memory”, in The Railway Magazine, volume 100, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 269, column 1:
   • The airport [Nicosia International Airport] has been frozen in time since a ceasefire between pro-Greek and pro-Turkish forces was reached on Aug. 16, 1974, when it ended up in the no man’s land that has divided Cyprus ever since. […] In the absence of human intervention, no man’s lands turn into de facto nature reserves [3]. 2011 December 19, Frank Jacobs, “Frozen in Time”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2012:
9. (countable, uncountable) Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially: ▸ Land that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
10. (countable, uncountable) The fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Forms

Coordinates

frontline · front line · front

Deriveds

Nomansland · No Man's Land

Hypernyms

land

Relateds

devil strip

Synonyms

kill zone

Translations (29)

is einskismannsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · hu senkiföldje (place where no one can or should be) · hu senkiföldje (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · nl niemandsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · et eikellegimaa (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · et eikellegimaa (place where no one can or should be) · mk ничија земја (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · es tierra de nadie (place where no one can or should be) · nn ingenmannsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · sv ingenmansland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · nn ingenmannsland (place where no one can or should be) · sv ingenmansland (place where no one can or should be) · de Niemandsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · nb ingenmannsland (place where no one can or should be) · it terra di nessuno (place where no one can or should be) · da ingenmandsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · de Niemandsland (place where no one can or should be) · cs země nikoho (place where no one can or should be) · fi ei-kenenkään-maa (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · nb ingenmannsland (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · la terra nullius (place where no one can or should be) · da ingenmandsland (place where no one can or should be) · mk ничија земја (place where no one can or should be) · pl ziemia niczyja (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · es tierra de nadie (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · cs země nikoho (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · it terra di nessuno (stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states) · fi ei-kenenkään-maa (place where no one can or should be) · pt terra de ninguém (dangerous ground between trenches)

wikipedia: Loos-en-Gohelle · wikipedia: World War I · wikipedia: Hulluch · wikipedia: British Army · wikipedia: Blackwood's Magazine · wikipedia: Ernest Swinton