L’viv or Lviv (l?-v?v?, l?-v?o?o?) or L’vov or Lvov (l?-vôv?, -vôf?) A city of west-central Ukraine near the Polish border. Founded in 1256, it was captured by Poland in 1349, ceded to Austria in 1772, retaken by Poland in 1918, and assigned to the USSR in 1945.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Lviv (Ukrainian lvif) n (Placename) the Ukrainian name for LvovCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014