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/kˈɑntənənt/ Listen

noun

Continent n.

1.

That which contains anything; a receptacle. (Obs.) "The smaller continent which we call a pipkin."

2.

One of the grand divisions of land on the globe; the main land; specifically (Phys. Geog.), a large body of land differing from an island, not merely in its size, but in its structure, which is that of a large basin bordered by mountain chains; as, the continent of North America. Note: The continents are now usually regarded as six in number: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. But other large bodies of land are also reffered to as continents; as, the Antarctic continent; the continent of Greenland. Europe, Asia, and Africa are often grouped together as the Eastern Continent, and North and South America as the Western Continent.

The Continent, the main land of Europe, as distinguished from the islands, especially from England.

adjective

Continent adj.

1.

Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. (Obs.)

2.

Exercising restraint as to the indulgence of desires or passions; temperate; moderate. "Have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower."

3.

Abstaining from sexual intercourse; exercising restraint upon the sexual appetite; esp., abstaining from illicit sexual intercourse; chaste. "My past life" "Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true," "As I am now unhappy."

4.

Not interrupted; connected; continuous; as, a continent fever. (Obs.) "The northeast part of Asia is, if not continent with the west side of America, yet certainly it is the least disoined by sea of all that coast."

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Etymology of 'Continent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Continent" Quotes from Famous Books

... scarcely be expected to furnish materials for an extended biography. But the important position held by my late son, as second in command in what is now so well-known as the Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition across the Island Continent of Australia; the complicated duties he undertook as Astronomer, Topographer, Journalist, and Surveyor; the persevering skill with which he discharged them, suggesting and regulating the march of the party through a waste of eighteen hundred miles, previously ...

— Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia • William John Wills

... think of the steady-going English family, with regular family prayers, and attendance twice at Church on Sunday, and the same people spending two months on the Continent. No opportunity is made for family prayers before the table d'hte breakfast; and at least one part of the Sunday is spent in the Roman Catholic Cathedral, or in a different way from the home use. And if this be so with good respectable folk among ourselves, what must be the effect of altered ...

— Life of John Coleridge Patteson • Charlotte M. Yonge

... in the United States. Women in literature. A drafted army as compared with a volunteer army. Orpheum as a theater name. Prominent business women. War time influence of D'Annunzio. Increasing cost of living. Secretarial courses. The most beautiful city of the American continent. Alfalfa. Women surgeons. The blimp. Democracy in Great Britain compared with that of the United States. The root of the Mexican problem. San Marino. Illiteracy in the United States. How ...

— Public Speaking • Clarence Stratton

... from every mountain-peak Let beacon-fire to answering beacon speak, Katahdin tell Monadnock, Whiteface he, 385 And so leap on in light from sea to sea, Till the glad news be sent Across a kindling continent, Making earth feel more firm and air breathe braver: "Be proud! for she is saved, and all have helped to save her! 390 She that lifts up the manhood of the poor, She of the open soul and open door, With room about ...

— The Vision of Sir Launfal - And Other Poems • James Russell Lowell

... plays, gambling of any kind, and all promiscuous assemblies of youth of both sexes. These, however, are not debarred from forming, under proper advice and parental superintendence, that acquaintance which their future matrimonial connections may require. In the communities on the European continent, whither, to this day, numbers of young persons of both sexes resort, in order to become members of the society from motives of piety and a desire to prepare themselves to become missionaries among the heathen, and ...

— The Book of Religions • John Hayward

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