abilene
abilene Lexical Profile
• noun
American A city in west-central Texas, United States, known as a regional center for commerce, healthcare, higher education, and the location of Dyess Air Force Base.
"He attended a small private university in Abilene before moving to Dallas to begin his professional career."
American A city in central Kansas, United States, historically famous as a wild cattle town at the end of the Chisholm Trail and noted as the hometown of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"While driving through Kansas, they stopped in Abilene to tour the Eisenhower Presidential Library."
An ancient plain or district in Coele-Syria, briefly mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible as a tetrarchy governed by Lysanias.
"Historical scholars cross-reference the mention of Abilene in ancient texts to establish timelines of early Roman governance in the Levant."
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the ancient Biblical region of Abilene in Syria, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The name stems from the Greek 'Abilēnē', which originated from an Aramaic or Semitic word meaning 'meadow'. Both the major cities in Texas and Kansas were named after this biblical reference.