Ellis Island

noun

1. an island in upper New York Bay: a former U.S. immigrant examination station.

Ellis Island

¹

1. An island in the harbor of New York City . The chief immigration station of the United States was on Ellis Island from 1892 to 1943, a time when millions of people, especially from Europe , came to the United States.

Ellis Island

²

1. Island in the harbor of New York City , southwest of Manhattan .

Notes

1990 marked the opening of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

Ellis Island lies near the Statue of Liberty , which made an impressive sight for people approaching the United States for the first time.

Example Sentences

In the densely packed, mostly-immigrant community Hernandez calls “the Ellis Island of the West Coast,” a 35-acre green space serves as the “front yard and backyard” for tens of thousands of working-class residents.

From Los Angeles Times

If the so-called Ellis Island of the West — 83% Latino, with a border town’s enduring economic and family ties to Mexico — can pull up the proverbial welcome mat, any Latino-majority area can.

From Los Angeles Times

“My grandparents arrived at Ellis Island traumatized by the unfathomable murder of their families in the gas chambers of Auschwitz while the world let it happen.”

From Salon

The Irish were among the "huddled masses" who glimpsed the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island in New York and the start of a new American life.

From BBC

It has even been compared to New York's Ellis Island, as a point of arrival for immigrants who travel to Glasgow seeking a better life.

From BBC