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river

See also: River

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
A river

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English river, rivere, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Old French riviere, from Vulgar Latin *riparia (“riverbank, seashore, river”), from Latin riparius (“of a riverbank”), from ripa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Compare West Frisian rivier (“river”), Dutch rivier (“river”), Middle Low German rivêr (“river”), Middle High German rivier (“brook, stream”), Middle High German rivier, riviere, revier ("district"; > German Revier (“area, territory, district”)).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

river (plural rivers)

  1. A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, ending at an ocean or in an inland sea.
    • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
      By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.
    • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
      Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.
    Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods.
  2. Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
    a river of blood
  3. (poker) The last card dealt in a hand.
Usage notesEdit
  • As with the names of lakes and mountains, the names of rivers are typically formed by adding the word before or after the unique term: the River Thames or the Yangtze River. Generally speaking, names formed using adjectives or attributives see river added to the end, as with the Yellow River. It is less common to add river before names than it is with lakes, but many the rivers of Britain are written that way, as with the River Severn; indeed, British English tends to use "River X" in such cases while American and Australian English use "X River". The former derives from the earlier but now uncommon form river of ~: the 19th century River of Jordan is now usually simply the River Jordan.
  • It is common to preface the proper names of rivers with the article the.
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from river (etymology 1, noun)
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

river (third-person singular simple present rivers, present participle rivering, simple past and past participle rivered)

  1. (poker) To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.
    Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades.

Etymology 2Edit

rive +‎ -er

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

river (plural rivers)

  1. One who rives or splits.

ReferencesEdit

StatisticsEdit

Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: else · entered · none · #506: river · change · happy · hours

DanishEdit

NounEdit

river c

  1. plural indefinite of rive

VerbEdit

river

  1. present tense of rive

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From a Germanic source, Danish rive

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

river

  1. to drive/set a rivet

Related termsEdit

ConjugationEdit

  Conjugation of river (see also Appendix:French verbs)
simple compound
infinitive river avoir rivé
gerund en rivant en ayant rivé
present participle rivant
/ʁi.vɑ̃/
past participle rivé
/ʁi.ve/
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il nous vous ils
simple
tenses		 present rive
/ʁiv/		 rives
/ʁiv/		 rive
/ʁiv/		 rivons
/ʁi.vɔ̃/		 rivez
/ʁi.ve/		 rivent
/ʁiv/
imperfect rivais
/ʁi.vɛ/		 rivais
/ʁi.vɛ/		 rivait
/ʁi.vɛ/		 rivions
/ʁi.vjɔ̃/		 riviez
/ʁi.vje/		 rivaient
/ʁi.vɛ/
past historic1 rivai
/ʁi.ve/		 rivas
/ʁi.va/		 riva
/ʁi.va/		 rivâmes
/ʁi.vam/		 rivâtes
/ʁi.vat/		 rivèrent
/ʁi.vɛʁ/
future riverai
/ʁi.vʁe/		 riveras
/ʁi.vʁa/		 rivera
/ʁi.vʁa/		 riverons
/ʁi.vʁɔ̃/		 riverez
/ʁi.vʁe/		 riveront
/ʁi.vʁɔ̃/
conditional riverais
/ʁi.vʁɛ/		 riverais
/ʁi.vʁɛ/		 riverait
/ʁi.vʁɛ/		 riverions
/ʁi.və.ʁjɔ̃/		 riveriez
/ʁi.və.ʁje/		 riveraient
/ʁi.vʁɛ/
compound
tenses		 present perfect Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
past anterior1 Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
future perfect Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
conditional perfect Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il que nous que vous qu’ils
simple
tenses		 present rive
/ʁiv/		 rives
/ʁiv/		 rive
/ʁiv/		 rivions
/ʁi.vjɔ̃/		 riviez
/ʁi.vje/		 rivent
/ʁiv/
imperfect1 rivasse
/ʁi.vas/		 rivasses
/ʁi.vas/		 rivât
/ʁi.va/		 rivassions
/ʁi.va.sjɔ̃/		 rivassiez
/ʁi.va.sje/		 rivassent
/ʁi.vas/
compound
tenses		 past Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect1 Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
— rive
/ʁiv/		 — rivons
/ʁi.vɔ̃/		 rivez
/ʁi.ve/		 —
1literary tenses

AnagramsEdit

Further readingEdit

LatinEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

NounEdit

river m, f

  1. indefinite plural of rive

VerbEdit

river

  1. present tense of rive

Norwegian NynorskEdit

NounEdit

river f

  1. indefinite plural of rive

SwedishEdit

VerbEdit

river

  1. present tense of riva.
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