ocean

noun

1. the vast body of salt water that covers almost three fourths of the earth’s surface.
2. any of the geographical divisions of this body, commonly given as the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans.
3. a vast expanse or quantity: an ocean of grass.

noun

1. a very large stretch of sea, esp one of the five oceans of the world, the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic
2. the body of salt water covering approximately 70 per cent of the earth’s surface
3. a huge quantity or expansean ocean of replies
4. literary the sea

n.late 13c., from Old French occean “ocean” (12c., Modern French océan), from Latin oceanus, from Greek okeanos, the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth (as opposed to the Mediterranean), of unknown origin. Personified as Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaia and husband of Tethys. In early times, when the only known land masses were Eurasia and Africa, the ocean was an endless river that flowed around them. Until c.1650, commonly ocean sea, translating Latin mare oceanum. Application to individual bodies of water began 14c.; there are usually reckoned to be five of them, but this is arbitrary; also occasionally applied to smaller subdivisions, e.g. German Ocean “North Sea.”

1. The continuous body of salt water that covers 72 percent of the Earth’s surface. The average salinity of ocean water is approximately three percent. The deepest known area of the ocean, at 11,034 m (36,192 ft) is the Mariana Trench, located in the western Pacific Ocean.
2. Any of the principal divisions of this body of water, including the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans.