Norway

1. 1
   proper noun

   A Scandinavian country in Northern Europe, officially called the Kingdom of Norway.

   Norway shares a long border with Sweden to the east.

   Much of Norway's wealth comes from oil and gas in the North Sea.

   Note

   A name that is really a direction: Old English Norþweġ, a calque of Old Norse Norðvegr, the "north way," built from norðr "north" and vegr "way." It belonged to a set of Norse route names. Suðrvegr, the "south way," meant Germany, and austrvegr, the "east way," meant the Baltic lands. Middle English spelled it many ways, Norwey and Northwey among them, before the modern form settled.

2. 2
   nounabbreviationellipsis

   Ellipsis of Norway rat.

   The exterminator confirmed that a Norway was responsible for the damage in the basement.

   Dockworkers complained that Norways had infested the old warehouse.

   Note

   Clipping the compound turns a proper name into an ordinary countable noun: a Norway, two Norways. What it names is the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Because the short form looks exactly like the Scandinavian country, it reads clearly only when rats are already the subject. Elsewhere, Norway rat in full is the safer choice.

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