Amazon

Meanings

Noun

• A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.
• A female warrior.
• A tall, strong, or athletic woman.
• Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Proper Noun

• river South America (continent) that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the South Atlantic.
• A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.
• Amazon.com Inc, a very large internet retailer

Verb

• To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick-and-mortar competition.

Origin

• From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών.
• From Spanish, Río Amazonas. It is common belief that the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana fought a battle against a tribe of Tapuya natives, in which the women fought alongside the men, and that he derived the name from the Amazons in Greek mythology.
• Chosen by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as a word beginning with 'A' which had existing connotations (see meanings listed in etymologies 1 & 2) of being exotic, different, and (as the Amazon River) the largest of its kind in the world. Ann Byers, Jeff Bezos: the founder of amazon.com, , Rosen Publishing Group, 2007,