Definitions

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

  • noun The distinctive atmosphere or pervading spirit of a place.
  • noun The guardian deity of a place.

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

  • noun The spirit or one of the spirits presiding over or guarding a particular place, such as a glade or pool.
  • noun The geist, distinctive atmosphere, or characteristic spirit of a place, especially when regarded as an artistic muse.

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

  • noun the special atmosphere of a place
  • noun the guardian spirit of a place

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin genius locī : genius, spirit + locī, genitive sing. of locus, place.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin genius ("lar") + locī ("of (a) place"), genitive singular form of locus ("place”, “location") = “(guardian) spirit of a place”.

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Examples

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