1. A member of a Semitic people inhabiting Arabia, whose language and Islamic religion spread widely throughout the Middle East and northern Africa from the seventh century.
2. A member of an Arabic-speaking people.
3. An Arabian horse.

[French Arabe, from Latin Arabs, from Greek Araps, Arab-, from Arabic 'arab.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.