LINDSEY, the third and largest division of the county of Lincoln, in England. On the east and north it is washed by the sea, into which it runs out with a large front; on the west it has Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, from which it is parted by the rivers Trent and Don; on the south it has Kestoven, from which it is separated by the river Witham and the Foss-dyke, which is seven miles long, and was cut by Henry I. between the Witham and the Trent, for the convenience of carriage in those parts. It derived its name from Lincoln, the capital of the county, which stands in it, and by the Romans was called Lindum, by the Britons Lindecoite, by the Saxons Lindo-collyne, probably from its situation on a hill, and the lakes or woods that were anciently thereabouts; but the Normans called it Nichol.