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Glite Dictionary
St. Johns River

St. Johns River

1 3.2
A long river in northeast Florida that flows north to Jacksonville and east to the Atlantic Ocean
  • proper noun
translation icon : río St. Johns
  • The idea was to include African-American communities in the old plantation country along the St. Johns River, one of the few regions where newly freed slaves could buy land after the Civil War.
  • Florida's St. Johns River

Examples

  • Picolata was the site of an old Spanish fort, situated due west of St. Augustine on the St. Johns River in East Florida.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The treaty also set the boundaries of the province of East Florida (see Map 2), which were "all the sea coast as far as the tide flows, with all the country to the eastward of St. Johns River forming nearly an island from its source to its entrance into the sea."

    Academic text (2008)

  • And to the westward of St. Johns River by a line drawn from the entrance of the Creek Achlawaugh Ocklawaha River into said river, above the Great Lake, from thence to that part of St. Marys River which shall be intersected.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The St. Johns River flows through northeastern Florida, eventually emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

  • During our boat trip, we saw a variety of wildlife along the beautiful St. Johns River.

  • Many locals enjoy fishing and kayaking in the calm waters of the St. Johns River.

Synonyms

Saint Johns River
vsSt. Johns River
3.4

A river in northeast Florida that flows north through Jacksonville to the Atlantic Ocean

is the same river but uses an alternate spelling of the name
St. Johns
vsSt. Johns River
5.0

A big river in northeast Florida that flows north to Jacksonville and then east to the Atlantic Ocean

is the same river reference but uses a shorter form of the name
Saint Johns
vsSt. Johns River
4.3

A river in northeast Florida that flows north through Jacksonville to the Atlantic

is the same river description but uses a variant of the name

Surface Forms

St. Johns River main

Morphology

St. + Johns + river

The headword is a straightforward place name composed of 'St.' (Saint) + 'Johns' (a personal name) + 'river' (a watercourse); a B1 learner who knows these constituents will readily infer it denotes a river named for St. John even if they lack location knowledge. Naming rivers after people is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so the core meaning is directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

St. Johns River likely got its name from early Spanish explorers. One popular story says they called the river 'San Juan' because they reached it on St. John's Day, so the name simply remembers that saint and the day the river was found.