Dane

plural Danes

1. A person from Denmark or of Danish descent.

   But the Danes remained resolute in defence - largely thanks to a spirited display by captain Daniel Agger - and they went ahead with their first meaningful attack.

   2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2025

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   As Denmark takes over the presidency of the European Union, Danes are more strongly pro-European than at any time in the past two decades – a shift in sentiment that can at least partly be attributed to US President Donald Trump.

   2025 July 5, Sebastian Shukla, “Denmark has long been Euroskeptic. Donald Trump helped change that”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2025

   Synonyms: Danish, Danishman, Denmarkian

2. historicalIn Anglo-Saxon England, any of the seafaring raiders and settlers who attacked and colonized parts of England from the late 8th century onward; a Viking.
3. historicalA member of a Germanic tribe inhabiting the Danish islands and parts of southern Sweden.

   I have wrestled the hilt from the enemies' hand, avenged the evil done to the Danes; it is what is due.

   1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 54

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   Kenett states that the military works still known by the name of Tadmarten Camp and Hook-Norton Barrow were cast up at this time; the former, large and round, is judged to be a fortification of the Danes, and the latter, being smaller and rather a quinquangle than a square, of the Saxons.

   1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford, volume 1, page 170

1. A surname transferred from the nickname for someone who came from Denmark, also a variant of Dean.

   In “Euphoria,” Dane plays Cal Jacobs, the troubled father to Jacob Elordi’s character in the HBO drama, which is scheduled to begin production on its third season on April 14.

   2025 April 10, Dan Heching, “Eric Dane shares that he has been diagnosed with ALS”, in CNN, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2025

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   Often he wrote good ones on casual slips and fancied them his; names like Trevellyan or Montressor or Delancey, with musical prefixes; or a good, short, beautiful, but dignified name like "Gordon Dane". He liked that one. It suggested something.

   1913, Harry Leon Wilson, Bunker Bean, BiblioBazaar, LLC, published 2008, →ISBN, page 13

2. A male given name transferred from the surname, or from the ethnic term Dane (like Scott or Norman).

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   "I'm going to call him Dane." "What a queer name! Why? Is it an O'Neill family name? I thought you were finished with the O'Neills." "It's got nothing to do with Luke. This is his name, no one else's. - - - I called Justine Justine simply because I liked the name, and I'm calling Dane Dane for the same reason." "Well, it does have a nice ring to it," Fee admitted.

   1977, Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds, Gramercy Books, published 1998, →ISBN, pages 432–433

3. A river, the River Dane, in Cheshire, England, which joins the River Weaver at Northwich.