1. salem, 1 a city (36) and seaport of the United States, founded in 1626 on a peninsula in Massachusetts Bay, 15 m. NE. of Boston; its foreign trade has fallen away, but a good coasting trade is done in ice and coal; manufactures include cottons, jutes, shoes, &c. 2, Capital (5) of Oregon, on the Willamette River, 720 m. N. of San Francisco.