Definition of: Palestine

(pal′is·tīn)
1. In Biblical times, a territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the country of the Jews: Old Testament Canaan: also Holy Land.
2. Parts of this territory, not including Syria or Jordan, placed (1920) under British mandate by the League of Nations: 10,434 square miles; capital, Jerusalem: divided (1947) by the United Nations into independent Arab and Jewish states. See ISRAEL, JORDAN.
—Pal′es·tin′i·an (-tin′ē·ən), Pal′es·tin′e·an adjective & noun