Ar`chi*pel"a*go, n.; pl. -goes or -gos (#). [It. arcipelago, properly, chief sea; Gr. pref + sea, perh. akin to blow, and expressing the beating of the waves. See Plague.]
1.
The Grecian Archipelago, or Aegean Sea, separating Greece from Asia Minor. It is studded with a vast number of small islands.
2.
Hence: Any sea or broad sheet of water interspersed with many islands or with a group of islands.
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© Webster 1913.