Memphis
1 Americannoun
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a port in SW Tennessee, on the Mississippi.
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a ruined city in Lower Egypt, on the Nile, S of Cairo: the ancient capital of Egypt.
noun
adjective
noun
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a port in SW Tennessee, on the Mississippi River: the largest city in the state; a major cotton and timber market; Memphis State University (1909). Pop: 645 978 (2003 est)
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a ruined city in N Egypt, the ancient centre of Lower Egypt, on the Nile: administrative and artistic centre, sacred to the worship of Ptah
Etymology
Origin of Memphis
The name was allegedly suggested to Ettore Sottsass, one of the group's founders, by the Bob Dylan song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” on the evening of December 11, 1980
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When Annie takes a job at a nightclub in Memphis, she says of its penny-pinching owner: “The man was tight as a skeeter’s teeter.”
From Los Angeles Times
“If you are so interested in doing your own thing that you can’t do what the organization is structured to do, go ahead,” King said to Jackson in Memphis only five days before his death.
From Salon
He rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leader in Martin Luther King, Jr 's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was with King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.
From BBC
In April 1968, Jackson joined King in Memphis, where the civil rights leader had decided to stand with striking Black sanitation workers.
From Los Angeles Times
He was with his mentor at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when King was assassinated.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
