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Glite Dictionary
Gulf of Oman

Gulf of Oman

1 2.7
A sea area between Iran and Oman that links the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf
  • proper noun
translation icon : Golfo de Omán
  • The two countries have escalated their rhetoric since two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman last week.
  • tankers in the Gulf of Oman
  • attacks in the Gulf of Oman

Examples

  • The Soviet Union has protested strongly to the United States about what it calls dangerous provocations by American war ships in the Gulf of Oman yesterday.

    Threads (1984)

  • The Navy stopped and boarded it in the Gulf of Oman.

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington believes Iran is behind the attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Surface Forms

Gulf of Oman main

Morphology

gulf + of + Oman

The meaning 'an arm of the sea associated with Oman' is transparently compositional from 'gulf' (a stretch of sea) + 'of' (denoting possession/association) + 'Oman' (the country). This is a standard geographic naming pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The name Gulf of Oman comes from a simple picture: a gulf is a large bay and Oman is the country on the south shore. It is the part of the 'sea' that lies between Iran and Oman and connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea, so the name tells us which stretch of water we mean.