no man's land

plural no man's lands · alternative No Man's Land · alternative no-man's land · alternative no-man's-land · alternative noman's land

1. countableuncountablegovernmentThe ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.

   Near-synonym: kill zone

   1 more example

   Here and there in that wilderness of dead bodies—the dreadful “No-Man’s-Land” between the opposing lines—deserted guns showed up singly or in groups, glistening in the full glare of the beam or silhouetted in black against a ray behind.

   1908 December, Ole Luk-Oie [pseudonym; Ernest Swinton], “The Point of View”, in Blackwood’s Magazine, volume CLXXXIV, number MCXVIII, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, chapter I, page 671, column 2

   Synonyms: kill zone

2. countableuncountablenauticalA space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
3. countableuncountableThe part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
4. countablefigurativelyuncountableA place where no one can or should be present.

   Now, George, if you’re going to consider this question from the point of view of poetry, you’re off to No Man’s Land, where I won’t follow you.

   1867 April 6, T[homas] W[illiam] Robertson, “Act I.[—The Little House in Stangate—Courtship.]”, in Caste: An Original Comedy, London: […] J[ohn] Ogden and Co., […], →OCLC, page 8

   2 more examples

   There’s a 137-square-mile chunk of Franklin County […] often referred to as "no man’s land" because it isn’t protected by any of the county’s four fire districts.

   2006 March 25, Melissa Hoyos, “Area has no fire protection […]”, in Tri-City Herald, volume 104, number 84, Pasco, Wash.: McClatchy Company, →OCLC, page A1, column 2

   Today Qingshan district is a patchwork of tiny fields, polluted streams and roadside markets selling building materials. But the city government is in the process of transforming this no-man’s-land into a sparkling new suburb.

   2012, Tom Miller, “The Construction Orgy: Paving the Fields”, in China's Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History, London; New York, N.Y.: Zed Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 114

5. countableuncountablehobbiesThe area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
6. countableuncountableball gamesAn area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
7. Territory that is often disputed, and that cannot be inhabited because of fear of conflict, especially:
   1. countablehistoricaluncountablegeographyTracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain.
   2. countableuncountablegeographyThe stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.

      At the last Polish station all train officials left, except the locomotive crew, and we slowly trundled over a strongly fortified no man's land for a few hundred yards until we drew in to the first station in Russia.

      1954 April, P. E. Witham, “A Trans-Siberian Memory”, in The Railway Magazine, volume 100, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 269, column 1

      1 more example

      The airport [Nicosia International Airport] has been frozen in time since a ceasefire between pro-Greek and pro-Turkish forces was reached on Aug. 16, 1974, when it ended up in the no man’s land that has divided Cyprus ever since. […] In the absence of human intervention, no man’s lands turn into de facto nature reserves [3].

      2011 December 19, Frank Jacobs, “Frozen in Time”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2012

   3. countableuncountablegeographyLand that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
8. countableuncountableanatomyThe fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

1. The name of a settlement:
   1. A hamlet in Morval parish and St Martin-by-Looe parish, east Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX2756).
   2. A hamlet in Chilcomb parish, Winchester district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU5129).