ALEXANDER SELKIRK • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Alexander Selkirk

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/ˌæləgzˈændər sˈɛlkərk/ Listen

Alexander Selkirk

noun

Scottish sailor who was put ashore on a deserted island off the coast of Chile for five years (providing the basis for Daniel Defoe's novel about Robinson Crusoe) (1676-1721). Synonyms: Alexander Selcraig, Selcraig, Selkirk.

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Etymology of 'Alexander Selkirk'

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"Alexander Selkirk" Quotes from Famous Books

... his appearance with that minute fidelity of which only an eyewitness is supposed to be capable. Long practice in this kind of composition made Defoe an adept in the art of "lying like truth." When, therefore, the actual and extraordinary adventures of Alexander Selkirk came under his notice, nothing was more natural and more profitable for Defoe than to seize upon this material, and work it up, just as he worked up the lives of Jack Sheppard the highwayman, and of Avery the king of the pirates. It is interesting to notice ...

— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... At least twenty girls were making love to Jim, and he was quite unconscious of it all, except that he thought them a little free, and at length he recited an appropriate couplet from "The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk": "They are so unaccustomed to man, their tameness is shocking to me." He joked and laughed with all; but ever he drifted over toward Belle, to consult, ...

— The Preacher of Cedar Mountain - A Tale of the Open Country • Ernest Thompson Seton

Words linked to "Alexander Selkirk" : Alexander Selcraig, sailor, crewman