Thule noun. ['Ɵju:li, in sense 2 Ɵu:l, Ɵju:l] OE.
[Latin Thule, Thyle from Greek Thoulē, Thulē, of unkn. origin. In sense 2, from Thule (now Dundas), a settlement in NW Greenland.]
1. a. Antiquities. A land (variously conjectured to be the Shetland Islands, Iceland, or part of Denmark or Norway) to the north of Britain, believed by ancient Greek and Roman geographers to be the most northerly region in the world. OE.
b. transf. In full ultima Thule [Latin = farthest Thule]. The type of the extreme limit of travel and discovery; fig. the highest or uttermost point or degree attained or attainable, the (lowest) limit, the nadir. L18.
■ M. Lowry You write off that behaviour as being the ultima Thule of ingratitude.

2. Archaeology. A prehistoric Eskimo culture widely distributed from Alaska to Greenland c AD 500-1400. Freq. attrib. E20.

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