WILSON

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Wilson mean? 

• WILSON (noun)
  The noun WILSON has 11 senses:

1. author of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870)

2. English writer of novels and short stories (1913-1991)

3. Scottish ornithologist in the United States (1766-1813)

4. United States physicist honored for his work on cosmic microwave radiation (born in 1918)

5. Canadian geophysicist who was a pioneer in the study of plate tectonics (1908-1993)

6. American Revolutionary leader who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (1742-1798)

7. United States entomologist who has generalized from social insects to other animals including humans (born in 1929)

8. Scottish physicist who invented the cloud chamber (1869-1959)

9. United States literary critic (1895-1972)

10. 28th President of the United States; led the United States in World War I and secured the formation of the League of Nations (1856-1924)

11. a peak in the San Juan mountains of Colorado (14,246 feet high)

  Familiarity information: WILSON used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WILSON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Author of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Harriet Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 2

Meaning:

English writer of novels and short stories (1913-1991)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson; Sir Angus Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Scottish ornithologist in the United States (1766-1813)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Alexander Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

bird watcher; ornithologist (a zoologist who studies birds)

Sense 4

Meaning:

United States physicist honored for his work on cosmic microwave radiation (born in 1918)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Robert Woodrow Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

physicist (a scientist trained in physics)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Canadian geophysicist who was a pioneer in the study of plate tectonics (1908-1993)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

John Tuzo Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

geophysicist (a geologist who uses physical principles to study the properties of the earth)

Sense 6

Meaning:

American Revolutionary leader who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (1742-1798)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

James Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

American Revolutionary leader (a nationalist leader in the American Revolution and in the creation of the United States)

Sense 7

Meaning:

United States entomologist who has generalized from social insects to other animals including humans (born in 1929)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

E. O. Wilson; Edward Osborne Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

bug-hunter; bugologist; entomologist (a zoologist who studies insects)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Scottish physicist who invented the cloud chamber (1869-1959)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles Thomson Rees Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

nuclear physicist (a physicist who specializes in nuclear physics)

Sense 9

Meaning:

United States literary critic (1895-1972)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Edmund Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

literary critic (a critic of literature)

Sense 10

Meaning:

28th President of the United States; led the United States in World War I and secured the formation of the League of Nations (1856-1924)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

President Wilson; Thomas Woodrow Wilson; Wilson; Woodrow Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

Chief Executive; President; President of the United States; United States President (the person who holds the office of head of state of the United States government)

Derivation:

Wilsonian (of or relating to or suggestive of Woodrow Wilson)

Sense 11

Meaning:

A peak in the San Juan mountains of Colorado (14,246 feet high)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Mount Wilson; Wilson

Instance hypernyms:

mountain peak (the summit of a mountain)

Holonyms ("Wilson" is a part of...):

San Juan Mountains (a mountain range in southwestern Colorado that is part of the Rocky Mountains)

 Context examples 

I therefore cabled to my friend, Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more than once made use of my knowledge of London crime.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What would you have it, Wilson?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Wilson and colleagues found evidence of these features in Mars' northern Arabia Terra region.

(Some Ancient Mars Lakes Came Long After Others, NASA)

It was a thought of mine own, said he; for the sword was made by Thomas Wilson, the armorer, who is betrothed to my second daughter Margery.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What tricks Theodore and I used to play on our Miss Wilsons, and Mrs. Greys, and Madame Jouberts!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A team led by Dr. Samuel Wilson at NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) set out to determine how DNA polymerase inserts damaged nucleotides when assembling DNA strands.

(Structural Snapshots of Damaged DNA, NIH)

The brother, on his arrival in England, had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Kemp—a man of the foulest antecedents.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Some examples of genetic brain disorders include: • Leukodystrophies • Phenylketonuria • Tay-Sachs disease • Wilson disease

(Genetic Brain Disorders, NIH)

Wilson's team concentrated on those equatorial areas, particularly with a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) stretch of loose, easily erodible material between the northern lowlands and southern highlands along the Medusae Fossae Formation.

(A Fresh Look at Older Data Yields a Surprise Near the Martian Equator, NASA)