Obs. Also biland. [See quot. 1577: by- seems to have been taken by Harrison in the sense of ‘off at the side.’] A peninsula.
1577–87. Harrison, Descr. Brit., x. 30. The How, which is not an Iland … but almost an Iland, which parcels the Latins call Peninsulas, and I do English a Byland.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 22. The Biland Taurica Chersonesus.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., III. (1673), 163/2. This Biland or Demy-Island.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon (1714), II. 302. [The river] Tamer … leaveth Cornwall, as it were a Peninsula, or By-land.
