Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A river of south-central Europe rising in southwest Germany and flowing about 2,850 km (1,770 mi) southeast through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Balkan Peninsula to the Black Sea. It has been a major trade route since the Middle Ages.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun geography A river of Europe, which arises in Germany, and flows 2850 km (1775 miles) to the Black Sea in Romania.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the 2nd longest European river (after the Volga); flows from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin Dānubius, from Proto-Celtic *Danuvios (compare Welsh river name Donwy), from Pre-Celtic *Dāne/ou̯i̯os, from Proto-Indo-European *dhen- (“run, flow”); akin to Latin fōns ("spring"), Persian دنیدن (danīdan, "to hasten, run"), Ossetian дон (don, "water"), Sanskrit धन्वति (dhanvati, "it flows, runs").

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