Archipelago \Ar`chi*pel"a*go\, n.; pl. -goes or -gos. [It. arcipelago, properly, chief sea; Gr. pref ? + ? sea, perh. akin to ? blow, and expressing the beating of the waves. See Plague.]

1. The Grecian Archipelago, or [AE]gean Sea, separating Greece from Asia Minor. It is studded with a vast number of small islands.

2. Hence: Any sea or broad sheet of water interspersed with many islands or with a group of islands.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)