the Indies
- proper noun
:
las Indias
- The king wants you to return to England to prepare an expedition of your own to chart the northern coasts to see if you might find a passage to the Indies.
These are called in English the Laws of the Indies.
- These are called in English the Laws of the Indies.
Examples
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King John is still seeking a route to the Indies around Africa, Your Highness.
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Let's go to the Indies.
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We may reach Hell before we reach the Indies!
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I believe you will find the Indies.
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We have landed in the Indies, my friend.
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Do you plan to go back to the Indies, señor?
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You have been to the Indies, señor?
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Tell me about the Indies, señor.
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Signed: Don Cristóbal Colón Viceroy of the Indies!
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After a long journey, we finally arrived in the Indies, ready to explore the beautiful islands.
Synonyms
4
5.5
A group of islands in the Caribbean between Florida and northern South America
4
3.0
A group of islands in the Caribbean with warm weather and beaches
A region of islands and sea near Central and South America
A group of Caribbean islands with warm beaches and lively culture
Surface Forms
Morphology
the + Indies
The determiner 'the' adds no semantic content, but the core lexical item 'Indies' is a historical proper name whose specific reference (West Indies vs East Indies) and island-group sense are lexicalized rather than compositionally built from smaller meaningful parts. A B1 learner who knows the words might infer a geographic region or lands related to 'India', but the exact modern meaning (Caribbean island group) and the East/West ambiguity are not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The Indies comes from early explorers. When sailors such as Columbus landed on these Caribbean islands, they thought they had reached 'India' and so called them 'the Indies'. That's why today the Indies can mean the group of tropical islands between North and South America.