Also toondra, toundra. [a. Lap. tundra.] One of the vast, nearly level, treeless regions which make up the greater part of the north of Russia, resembling the steppes farther south, but with arctic climate and vegetation. Also applied to similar regions in Siberia and Alaska.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 458/1. The most northern part of Siberia is a low plain, called the Tundra. The surface is nearly a dead level, and quite destitute of trees.
1861. H. Macmilllan, Footnotes fr. Page Nat., 93. In the vast sandy plains called by the Laplanders tundra, which border on the Arctic ocean.
1889. G. F. Wright, Ice Age in N. Amer., 32. Much of the region north of St. Elias, Alaska, is now covered with tundra.
attrib. 1894. Outing (U.S.), XXIII. 388/1. In the far north-west, the vast tundra plains, bordering upon the Arctic Ocean.
1894. Daily News, 24 July, 5/4. Russian traders and inhabitants of the polar tundra zone.
1901. H. Seebohm, Birds Siberia, xiv. 119. A swampy, hummocky strip of tundra land.
