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hamlet

noun

  1. small settlement
L35021 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈhæm.lɪt/ / /ˈhæm.lət/

name

Etymology: From Latin Amlethus, as written by 13th-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, and borrowed into English by way of François de Belleforest's French Hamlet, originally rendered as Hamblet in English. Ultimately from Old Danish Amlethæ, corresponding to Old Norse Amlóði (“fool”), claimed to be suggestive of the way that Hamlet acts in the play, from ama (“to annoy”).

  1. A William Shakespeare play about the Danish royal family.
  2. The eponymous main character of William Shakespeare's play, whose father's ghost, murdered by Hamlet's uncle, exhorts him to seek revenge.
  3. A male given name.
  4. A surname.
  5. A number of places in the United States:
  6. A number of places in the United States:
  7. A number of places in the United States:
  8. A number of places in the United States:
  9. A number of places in the United States:
  10. A number of places in the United States:
  11. A number of places in the United States:
  12. A number of places in the United States:
  13. A locality in Alberta, Canada, named after William Hamlet.
  14. A settlement in Gittisham parish, East Devon district, Devon, England, just outside Honiton (OS grid ref SY1499).
  15. A hamlet in Yetminster parish and Chetnole parish, Dorset, England (OS grid ref ST5908).

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz Frankish *haimbor. Old French ham Old French hamel Old French hameletbor. Middle English hamlet English hamlet From Middle English hamlet, hamelet, a borrowing from Old French hamelet, diminutive of Old French hamel, in turn diminutive of Old French ham, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *haim, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (whence English home). Equivalent to Middle English ham (“home, village”) + -let (“small”).

  1. A small settlement or a group of houses, often defined as a settlement smaller than a village.

    Coal′brookdale, a hamlet of England, co. of Salop, on a railway, 2 miles N. of Broseley, on the Severn. Pop. 1574, engaged in collieries, foundries, and fire-brick and tobacco-pipe manufactories.

    Georgetown, a hamlet in Frederick co., Md., on the Frederick & Pennsylvania Line Railroad, 6 miles N.E. of Frederick. It has 2 churches.

  2. A village that does not have its own church.

    One hundred thirtie two thousand of Parish Churches, Hamlets, and Villages of all sorts.

    The case stated, That Thomas G., the pauper, […] served that year at S.; which is a hamlet consisting of one house only, and between three and four hundred acres of land : that the said hamlet of S. had never contributed towards the relief of the poor of the parish of T., nor had ever been assessed thereto; but had always been assessed, and had always paid to the support of the parish church of T.: […]

  3. An unincorporated community of whatever size, lacking its own municipal government, but with defined boundaries.

    […] Wessex county (a pseudonym) comprising rural area (pop. 8,434); four incorporated towns plus the section of land containing the largest hamlet in the county (pop. 2,489)

    Sherwood Park is a hamlet with a population of 35 500 while the rural area has a population exceeding 20 000 people.

  4. Any of the fish of the genus Hypoplectrus in the family Serranidae.

    Larval hamlets are similar to larval Serranus and spend several weeks in the plankton feeding on a variety of tiny crustaceans and invertebrates before metamorphosing and settling on to the reef.

    Shy Hamlet […] The back of this hamlet is dark in some specimens but a much bluer shade in others. […] Amazingly, each fish is a hermaphrodite, possessing both male and female sex organs, so any two Shy Hamlets should be able to mate successfully.