chief city and capital of England, Latin Londinium (c.115), often explained as "place belonging to a man named Londinos," a supposed Celtic personal name meaning "the wild one," "but this etymology is rejected in an emphatic footnote in Jackson 1953 (p.308), and we have as yet nothing to put in its place" [Margaret Gelling, "Signposts to the Past: Place-Names and the History of England," Chichester, 1978]. London Bridge the children's singing game is attested from 1827. London broil "large flank steak broiled then cut in thin slices" attested by 1939, American English; London fog first attested 1830.
Capital of Britain, located in southeastern England on both sides of the Thames River; officially called Greater London; a financial, commercial, industrial, and cultural center and one of the world's greatest ports.
Note: Many buildings of central London were destroyed or damaged in air raids, called the Blitz (short for blitzkrieg), during World War II.
Note: London is the home of Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Tower of London, and the University of London.
metropolitan county of southeastern England that is also generally known as London. A brief treatment of the administrative entity follows. For an in-depth discussion of the physical setting, history, character, and inhabitants of the city, see London. For descriptions from early editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica and from the Book of the Year writings contemporaneous with World War II, see BTW: London Classics