Crossword Genius

Greek island dismisses Russians (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cossacks

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'russians' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'greek island dismisses' is the wordplay.
'greek island' becomes 'cos' (Cos is a Greek island).
'dismisses' becomes 'sacks' ('sack' can be a synonym of 'dismiss').
'cos'+'sacks'='COSSACKS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cossacks that I've seen before include "Members of an elite cavalry corps in tsarist Russia" , "Famous horsemen of S Russia" , "Russian peasants?" .)

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app