ravine

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See also: raviné

English

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Etymology 1

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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).

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: rə-vēnʹ, IPA(key): /ɹəˈviːn/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

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ravine (plural ravines)

  1. A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water.
    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 46:
      Sometimes the earth stretched up towards them with peaks of mountains, sometimes it fell away in steep ravines, blue rivers sang to them as they passed above them, or very faintly came the song of breezes in lone orchards, and far away the sea sang mighty dirges of old forsaken isles.
    • 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 terms
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Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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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”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ravine (plural ravines)

  1. (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?

Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ravine f (plural ravines)

  1. a small ravine or gully
  2. beginning of a furrowing or formation of a ravine
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Verb

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ravine

  1. inflection of raviner:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From French ravine, from Latin rapīna.

Noun

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ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural raviner, definite plural ravinene)

  1. gully (type of ravine)

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From French ravine, from Latin rapīna.

Noun

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ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural ravinar, definite plural ravinane)

  1. gully (type of ravine)

References

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