Definition of "mainland"

mainland

/ˈmeɪnlənd/

noun
plural mainlands
1. The continent; the principal land, as distinguished from islands or a peninsula.
  Quotations
  ...I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.
  1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719
  You may have not realised when I was using the term mainland Europe, I was excluding the British Isles.
  2005, comment (not durably archived)
2. The principal island of a group.