islands

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of island.

   Greece includes hundreds of inhabited islands scattered across the Aegean.

   Volcanic islands often rise steeply from deep surrounding water.

   Note

   Every sense of the singular takes the same regular -s, so the plural reaches well beyond geography. Islands can be the superstructures on aircraft carriers' decks or the raised strips that divide traffic. In the West Midlands they can be roundabouts. Figuratively, the word names anything set apart from very different surroundings, as in islands of calm in a busy city.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of island.

   The new bypass effectively islands the village from its neighboring towns.

   At high tide the sea islands the rocky outcrop for several hours.

   Note

   A transitive form in every meaning: something always islands something else. The subject may be water itself, a force that isolates, or a scatter of things dotting a surface. It is spelled exactly like the plural noun, and the quickest way to tell them apart is the object. In "the tide islands the rock," a noun follows, so it is the verb.

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