See also: SEIF and Seif

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Arabic سَيْف (sayf, sword). Doublet of xiphos.

Noun edit

seif (plural seifs)

  1. A sand dune that elongates parallel to the prevailing wind.
    • 1954, Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel, volume 4, page 196:
      Such seifs have a somewhat zig-zag form instead of a fairly straight line.
      On the top of seifs small transverse dunelets are very often found, and these may be likened to almost straightened-out barchans. [] On the top of the seif they form a wave-like pattern with a fairly defined "wavelength".
    • 1973, Ralph Alger Bagnold, The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes, page 224:
      Though the actual transition forms suggested in Fig. 76 do exist and have been examined by the author, the above tentative explanation of the growth of a seif dune chain should certainly not be taken as implying that all such chains have originated as barchans.
    • 1980, P. Turner, Continental Red Beds, page 80:
      Seifs are longitudinal forms elongated parallel to the prevailing wind direction.
    • 2009 February 26, Bruno Andreotti et al., “Giant aeolian dune size determined by the average depth of the atmospheric boundary layer”, in Nature, volume 457, number 7233, →DOI, pages 1120–1123:
      Tsoar, H. Dynamic processes acting on a longitudinal (seif) sand dune .

Synonyms edit

See also edit

Anagrams edit

Old French edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Latin sitis.

Noun edit

seif oblique singularm (nominative singular seis)

  1. thirst

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English safe.

Noun edit

seif n (plural seifuri)

  1. safe box

Declension edit