Definitions for marathon
ˈmær əˌθɒn, -θənmarathon

Princeton's WordNet(2.50 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. marathon, endurance contest(noun)

   any long and arduous undertaking

2. marathon(noun)

   a footrace of 26 miles 385 yards

3. Marathon, battle of Marathon(noun)

   a battle in 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. marathon(Noun)

   A 42.195 kilometre (26 mile 385 yard) road race.

   Etymology: Μαραθών, a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance.

2. marathon(Noun)

   Any extended or sustained activity.

   He had a cleaning marathon the night before his girlfriend came over.

   Etymology: Μαραθών, a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance.

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Marathon

   The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres, that is usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 500 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes. Smaller marathons, such as the Stanley Marathon, can have just dozens of participants, while larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Marathon

   a village, 22 m. NE. of Athens, on the sea border of a plain where the Greeks under Miltiades on a world-famous occasion defeated the Persians under Darius in 480 B.C.; the plain on which the battle was fought extends between mountains on the W. and the sea on the E.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. marathon

   A village on the east shore of Attica, 20 miles northeast from Athens. Here on September 28 and 29, 490 B.C., the Greeks, only 10,000 strong, defeated the Persian army amounting to 200,000, who had 6400 killed. The Greek loss was 192 Athenians killed, besides some Platæans and slaves. The Greeks were commanded by Miltiades, Aristides, and Themistocles. Among the slain was Hippias, the instigator of the war. The Persian army was forced to retreat to Asia.

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. marathon

   Song lyrics by marathon -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by marathon on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce marathon?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say marathon in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of marathon in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of marathon in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of marathon in a Sentence

1. Mark Peters:

   Athletes run in snow, they run in 30 odd degree heat so we don't think that's an issue, unfortunately, these incredible athletes sometimes run themselves to exhaustion and there's rarely a marathon where somebody doesn't collapse.

2. Craig Reedie:

   I don’t blame media for doing what they do ; we have to react to it and I think we have reacted to it pretty sensibly, particularly in the creation of an independent commission to look at it, i think it will settle down. Frequently before any championship, there is a sort of seething hotbed of discussion and rumor and then the sport starts. I think it might well be that tomorrow morning's marathon will be quite wonderful.

3. Chirag Parikh:

   I would think that the majority of marathon runners are doing OK because the 22 people who participated in the study had normal kidney function and had been running marathons for an average of 12 years, so, if running marathons caused a great deal of permanent kidney injury, these runners would have minimal kidney function remaining.

4. Paolo Arrigo:

   It has been a real marathon, they should have never been in this situation.

5. Jim Ratcliffe:

   It's good fun. We make billions in profits so what's wrong with investing a bit of that in sport, in good challenges, good people ? , eliud is the finest marathon runner there has ever been and I think it will be very inspirational, to get kids putting running shoes on.

Images & Illustrations of marathon

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