ravine
EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Borrowed from French ravin (“a gully”), from Old French raviner (“to pillage, sweep down, cascade”), from ravine (“robbery, rapine; violent rush of water, waterfall, avalanche; impetuosity, spirit”), from Latin rapīna (cf. rapine).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ravine (plural ravines)
- A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water.
- 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 3, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad[1]:
- He fell into a reverie, a most dangerous state of mind for a chauffeur, since a fall into reverie on the part of a driver may mean a fall into a ravine on the part of the machine.
- 2007 April 1, Thomas Harlan, The Shadow of Ararat: Book One of 'The Oath of Empire'[2], page 294:
- Thirty feet below her, where the Persians were crashing through the brush, the streambed kinked to the left side of the ravine and ran under an enormous thorn tree with a thick base.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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See alsoEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rapīna (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ravine (plural ravines)
- (archaic) Alternative form of raven (“rapine, rapacity; prey, plunder”)
- 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.:
- And he, shall he,
Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair, […]
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation’s final law—
Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek’d against his creed—
Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills,
Who battled for the True, the Just,
Be blown about the desert dust,
Or seal’d within the iron hills?
- And he, shall he,
- 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.:
Further readingEdit
- ravine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- ravines on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
- ravine at OneLook Dictionary Search
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From the Old French verb raviner (“flow with force; sweep down; pillage, cascade”), or from the noun ravine, raveine (“robbery, rapine; violent rush of water, waterfall, avalanche; impetuosity, spirit”), from Latin rapīna. Doublet of rapine, a borrowing from the same Latin term.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ravine f (plural ravines)
Related termsEdit
VerbEdit
ravine
- inflection of raviner:
Further readingEdit
- “ravine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
From French ravine, from Latin rapīna.
NounEdit
ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural raviner, definite plural ravinene)
- gully (type of ravine)
ReferencesEdit
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
From French ravine, from Latin rapīna.
NounEdit
ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural ravinar, definite plural ravinane)
- gully (type of ravine)
ReferencesEdit
- “ravine” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.