Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Jamestown

Jamestown

11 5.3
An early English settlement in Virginia founded in 1607 as the first lasting colony in America
  • proper noun
  • /ˈdʒeɪmztaʊn/
translation icon : Jamestown
  • The first recorded execution in America occurred in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608.
  • Jamestown settlement
  • Jamestown colony
  • founded Jamestown

There were two two mandates for the Jamestown colonists.

Examples

  • Established as a business venture, Jamestown was England's first permanent colony in the New World.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Her interest in archaeology began with a visit to Jamestown when she was ten years old.

  • Good or bad, anything that helps Jamestown, helps people come to Jamestown, is fine.

    Academic text (2006)

  • I can believe that, after driving over here from Jamestown.

    Sergeant York (1941)

  • Her interest in archaeology began with a visit to Jamestown when she was ten years old.

    Academic text (2006)

  • In the book of American History, Jamestown, Virginia, represents the nation's beginnings.

    Academic text (1995)

  • A commemorative voyage is part of Jamestown's 400th anniversary festivities.

    Academic text (2007)

  • In their first year, almost half the Jamestown settlers succumbed to disease, malnutrition, or Indian attacks.

Compounds

Jamestown weed
  • US
9.9

A poisonous tropical plant with big trumpet-like flowers, prickly fruits, and leaves that smell very bad

Surface Forms

Jamestown main

Morphology

Jamestown = James + town (transparent) = james + town

The place name is a straightforward compound of a personal name and 'town', so knowing 'James' and 'town' makes the sense clear.

Etymology

Jamestown comes from the name James and the word town. It was named for King James I of England, so Jamestown means 'James's town' or 'settlement', which is why the name refers to the first English settlement in Virginia.