No Man's Land

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

The name appliea to the area between hostile entrenched lines or to any space contested by both sides and belong- ing to neither.

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 “No Man's Land” mean?

The name appliea to the area between hostile entrenched lines or to any space contested by both sides and belong- ing to neither.

Is “No Man's Land” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.