great wall

plural great walls

1. Synonym of galaxy filament

   Synonyms: galaxy filament

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Great Wall of China.

   This reconstructed Great Wall stretched from the River Yalu in the east, on the border with Korea, to Chiayükuan in Kansu Province.

   1977, Flavio Conti, “The Great Wall, People's Republic of China”, in Patrick Creagh, transl., Breaking the Confines (The Grand Tour), New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1978, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 55, column 3

   5 more examples

   China ſituated in the furtheſt part of Aſia, borders towards the Eaſt, South, and Weſt, upon the great Indian Sea, and is called Tung by the Chineſes, which ſignifies Eaſterly. And on the North it is ſeparated from the Kingdoms of Ninche, and Nicolhan, by that famous Wall which was made by thoſe of China againſt the Invaſion of the Tartars.

   [1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, page 6

   1741, Uncredited translator, A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary by Jean-Baptiste du Halde, London: Edward Cave, pages 20-21, The Gates of the Great Wall are defended on the ſide of China, by pretty large Forts : The firſt of them to the Eaſt is call'd Shang-bay-Quan, it ſtands near the Wall, which extends, from the Bulwark before-mentioned, the Space of a League, along a Country perfectly level, and does not begin to aſcend the Mountains, till after it has paſs'd that Place.

   Kalgan or Chang-chia-k'ou (張家口) is in the north-western corner of the province just inside the Great Wall, at the beginning of the camel route across the desert to Siberia.

   1904, C. D. Tenney, Geography of Asia, New York: MacMillan and Co, →OCLC, page 6

   On the trip out our car was full of railway workers, going out to work on the Lanchow-Sinkiang Railway which had already reached Yumen, China’s biggest oil field, and in 1960 will connect with the Soviet Union’s Turkestan-Siberia Railway; or to the Lanchow-Yinchuan section, which cuts through the Great Wall to reach Yinchuan, a major wool, hide and skin trading center in the Northwest.

   1956 October, Grace Liu, “A Train Trip in China”, in New World Review, volume 24, number 10, New York: S.R.T. Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20, column 1

   Under the Nationalist regime, Peking's municipal area covered more than 300 sq.mi. Under the Communists, the city limits were greatly expanded. As a result of annexations in 1953, the municipal district was extended to the Great Wall, 35 mi. from the city centre.

   1968, “PEKING (PEIPING)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 17, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 533, column 1

2. colloquialThe high barrier of entry to enter or discouragement to forming a romantic relationship with a Chinese person especially for a non-Chinese person.

1. astronomyOne of several galaxy filaments, which are the largest cosmic structures, being larger than a supercluster, forming partitions between cosmic voids, and contributing to the structure of the cosmic web.

   BOSS Great Wall