Martha's Vineyard
Preserved but no longer current.
An island, some 100 sq. miles in area, off the S.E. coast of Massa- chusetts. It was discovered in 1 602 by Bartholo- mew Gosnold, the discoverer of Cape Cod and the adjacent coasts, and so named by him. Martha's Vineyard is now a popular summer resort with a population, in 1940, of over 5,000.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Martha's Vineyard” mean?
An island, some 100 sq. miles in area, off the S.E. coast of Massa- chusetts. It was discovered in 1 602 by Bartholo- mew Gosnold, the discoverer of Cape Cod and the adjacent coasts, and so named by him. Martha's Vineyard is now a popular summer resort with a population, in 1940, of over 5,000.
Is “Martha's Vineyard” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.