Philistia
(fɪˈlɪstɪə)
In 6 Philistea.
[med.L. Philistia = late L. Philistæa (-thæa) in Jerome = Gr. ϕιλιστία, -ιαῖα; ult. repr. Heb. p'lesheth: see Philistine.]
1. The country occupied by the Philistines, in the south-west of Palestine. Also, the people or nation of the Philistines.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. lix. [lx.] 8 Philistea shal be glad of me. 1611 Bible Ps. lxxxvii. 4 Behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia. |
2. The class or community of ‘Philistines’, i.e. unenlightened or commonplace people; or the locality they inhabit. Cf. Philistine n. 4.
| 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago x, Yet have Philistia and Fogeydom neither right nor reason to consider him a despicable or merely ludicrous person. 1889 Pall Mall G. 31 July 3/2 The homage paid by virtue to vice, or, rather, by Philistia to Bohemia. 1894 Nation (N.Y.) 21 June 473/2 The requirements of a novel as understood by literary Philistia. |