1. illinois a tribe of NorthAmerican Indians, which formerly occupied the region between the Wabash and Mississippi rivers
Definitions of 'illinois'
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
1. illinois an American State as large as England and Wales; has the Mississippi for its western, the Ohio for its southern boundary, with Wisconsin and LakeMichigan in the N. and Indiana on the E.; fourth in population, seventeenth in area; "the Prairie State" is level, well watered, and extremely fertile; has a climatesubject to extremes, but, except in the swamps, healthy. It produces enormous quantities of wheat, besides other cereals, of tobacco and temperate fruits. Flour-milling, pork-packing, and distilling are the chief industries. The most extensive coal-deposits in America are in this State; with navigable rivers on its borders, and traversing it Lake Michigan, a great canal, and the largest railwaysystem in the Union, it is admirably situated for commercial development; originally acquired by Britain from the French, who entered it from Canada; it was ceded to the Americans in 1783, and admitted to the Union 1818; the State spends $12,000,000 annually on education, which is compulsory, and has a large and wealthy scientific and agricultural university at Urbana. Springfield (25) is the capital; but Chicago (1,100) is the largest city.
Definitions of illinois 
