mecca

plural meccas

1. alternativeAlternative form of Mecca.
   1. figurativelyoffensivesometimes; a place to which a group of people (for example shoppers) are drawn.

      But Seed to Table – which has sprawling spreads of produce, a food court with restaurants and kiosks, and a two-story wine market and tasting room – has become a MAGA mecca, many say, a shrine to former President Donald Trump and Trumpism.

      2024, Patrik Jonsson and Melanie Stetson Freeman, Florida woman kills wild boar with mango. (This is not a meme.), in: The Christian Science Monitor, August 27 2024

alternative Macca · alternative Makka · alternative Makkah · alternative Mekka · alternative Makkah al-Mukarramah

1. proscribedsometimesA province of Saudi Arabia.
2. proscribedsometimesA large city, the provincial capital of Mecca Province in the in the Hejaz region, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam, location of the sacred Kaaba, and to which Muslims are required to make a hajj at least once in their lifetime, if possible.
3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A census-designated place in Riverside County, California.
   2. A town in Wabash Township, Parke County, Indiana.
   3. An unincorporated community in Clinton County, Missouri.
   4. A township and unincorporated community in Trumbull County, Ohio.
4. A surname.

   MR. HOWE: I would like to ask Mr. Mecca this question : does he think there would be substantial duplication between the agency that he is suggesting, and the current Governors' Committees on Employment of the Handicapped. MR. MECCA: […]

   1968, United States. President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, The Seriously Handicapped and the Voluntary Health Agency: Proceedings of a Panel Discussion, Annual Meeting, May 2-3, 1968, page 32

5. uncommonA unisex given name, mostly borne by women.

   Mrs. Mecca Marie Varney and son are successful lecturers and debaters on various topics of current interest, such as suffrage, etc. Her home is in Paw Paw, Mich. Her lectures are managed by her husband, Charles E. Varney.

   1912, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, page 107

   1 more example

   Just then, a young boy—named Mecca, as we learned later—arrived at the scene with the flight attendants who had been escorting him to his parents. In the midst of the frantic feeding of the protein bar, Mecca quietly announced:

   2020, Born This Way Foundation reporters, Lady Gaga, Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community, Feiwel & Friends, →ISBN

plural Meccas · alternative mecca · alternative Macca · alternative Makka · alternative Makkah · alternative Mekka · alternative Makkah al-Mukarramah

1. figurativelyoffensivesometimesAny place considered to be a very important place to visit by people with a particular interest.

   On the other side of the Atlantic, stores in Paris's chic Avenue Montaigne, a mecca for Japanese tourists, said that sales to foreigners had fallen sharply.

   1991, The Economist Newspaper Ltd., The Economist

   5 more examples

   It was consequently the “Mecca,” the “Delphic Oracle,” the “Vale of Egeria,” to which all studious pilgrims should resort to drink of the pure springs of knowledge; […]

   1826, “Sketches of the Medical Schools of Scotland”, in The Lancet, volume 11, page 254

   By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

   1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court

   Tsuhu, or Lake Benevolence, is located in Fuhsing District, Taoyuan County, and formed by waters from the Tahan Creek (river). Its two sections of limpid water are enclosed within emerald green hills. When he was alive, the late President often came here as a place of retreat and meditation. It had been for this reason that his casket was moved here for temporary rest. The place has since become a Mecca for people all over the world to come and pay homage to Modern China's greatest leader.

   1981, A Pictorial History of the Republic of China: Its Founding and Development, volume II, Taipei: Modern China Press, →OCLC, page 558

   Living in Venice, California and training at the Mecca of bodybuilding, Gold's Gym, I've seen some of the world's most dedicated and hard-training athletes.

   1997, John Romano, Muscle Meals, page 14

   I say how much I like the shabby lounge atmosphere of a ruin pub, and Laura declares that this one, Szimpla Kert (which means “Simple Garden”), is the mecca of ruin pubs.

   2014, Rick Steves, Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2015: The Travel Skills Handbook, Avalon Travel, →ISBN, page 705