1. A member of the people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands and western Alaska; Also called: Aleutian.
2. The language spoken by the Aleut people.
Member of a people indigenous to the Aleutian Islands; a few thousand remain worldwide, most in the Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska. They were exploited by Russian fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, and their forced evacuation 1942–45 earned the US a United Nations reprimand 1959; compensation was paid 1990. From the 1980s concern for wildlife and diminishing demand for furs threatened their traditional livelihood of seal trapping.