O"cean (ō"shan), n. [F. océan, L. oceanus, Gr. \wkeano`s ocean, in Homer, the great river supposed to encompass the earth.]

1. The whole body of salt water which covers more than three fifths of the surface of the globe; -- called also the sea, or great sea.

Like the odor of brine from the oceanComes the thought of other years. Longfellow.

2. One of the large bodies of water into which the great ocean is regarded as divided, as the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic oceans.

3. An immense expanse; any vast space or quantity without apparent limits; as, the boundless ocean of eternity; an ocean of affairs. Locke.

O"cean (ō"shan), a.Of or pertaining to the main or great sea; as, the ocean waves; an ocean stream. Milton.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913