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Coney Island

Coney Island

14 3.2
A place in Brooklyn by the sea with a beach, boardwalk, and rides
  • proper noun
  • /ˈkoʊni ˈaɪlənd/
translation icon : Coney Island
  • My family loves going to Coney Island every summer to enjoy the beach and amusement parks.
  • Coney Island's boardwalk
  • Coney Island Cyclone
  • go to Coney Island

Examples

  • The Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation is open every day of the year from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. and is located at West 8th St. and Surf Ave. in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

    Academic text (1993)
  • To the right, a runner can make out the amusement park rides of Coney Island and then a private community called Sea Gate, jutting out into the bay.

    Blog text (22)
  • You are gonna so love Coney Island, Ray.

  • I can smell those old Coney Island hot dogs.

  • - People come to Coney Island for popcorn, not books.

  • He took her out to Coney Island, where they went roller-skating.

  • The first time I went to the Lighthouse Mission in Coney Island with my youth group, I was in ninth grade and did not know what to expect.

    Blog text (18)
  • Joe relished his job, working for the Ventano brothers, Sephardim who had arrived a couple of years before Joe did, and now had six bustling hot dog stands: two in Manhattan, three in the Bronx, and one in Coney Island.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • We spent the whole day at Coney Island, riding roller coasters and eating cotton candy.

  • Every summer, people flock to Coney Island to experience its famous boardwalk and attractions.

Surface Forms

Morphology

Coney + island

Knowing 'island' would allow a B1 learner to infer this is the name of an island, but the proper name 'Coney' is not a transparent lexical element and gives no information about location or cultural associations. The specific sense 'a section of Brooklyn famous for amusement parks and a boardwalk' cannot be derived from the parts, so the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Coney Island comes from an old word coney meaning 'rabbit' and island meaning land surrounded by water. Early visitors saw many wild rabbits there and called it a 'rabbit island', and today Coney Island is the famous beach and amusement area in Brooklyn.