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river

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: River

English

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A river

Etymology 1

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From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (littoral, riverbank), from Latin rīpārius (of a riverbank), from Latin rīpa (river bank), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (to scratch, tear, cut). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (stream) (whence rival, derive). Doublet of riviera and rivière. Displaced native Old English ēa.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:river
    Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods.
    • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
      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.
  2. Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
    a river of blood
  3. (poker) The last card dealt in a hand.
    • 2017, Nathan Schwiethale, Ace High: Mastering Low Stakes Poker Cash Games, page 70:
      He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.
  4. (typography) A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.
Usage notes
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  • 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 of 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, South African, Australian and New Zealand 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.
  • Concerning the reference of its coordinate terms, some people say:[1] you can step over a brook, jump over a creek, wade across a stream, and swim across a river.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Finnish: river (river (in poker))
  • Sranan Tongo: liba
Translations
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See also
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Verb

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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 2

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From rive +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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river (plural rivers)

  1. One who rives or splits.

References

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  1. ^ Definitions of rivers, stream, brooks, creeks and other terms (Goran Šafarek, WorldRivers.net, November 29, 2018)

Further reading

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Danish

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Noun

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river c

  1. indefinite plural of rive

Verb

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river

  1. present of rive

Finnish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English river.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈriʋer/, [ˈriʋe̞r]
  • Rhymes: -iʋer
  • Hyphenation(key): ri‧ver

Noun

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river

  1. (poker) river (fifth communal card in Texas hold'em)

Declension

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Inflection of river (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation)
nominative river riverit
genitive riverin riverien
rivereiden
rivereitten
partitive riveriä rivereitä
riverejä
illative riveriin rivereihin
singular plural
nominative river riverit
accusative nom. river riverit
gen. riverin
genitive riverin riverien
rivereiden
rivereitten
partitive riveriä rivereitä
riverejä
inessive riverissä rivereissä
elative riveristä rivereistä
illative riveriin rivereihin
adessive riverillä rivereillä
ablative riveriltä rivereiltä
allative riverille rivereille
essive riverinä rivereinä
translative riveriksi rivereiksi
abessive riverittä rivereittä
instructive riverein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of river (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative riverini riverini
accusative nom. riverini riverini
gen. riverini
genitive riverini riverieni
rivereideni
rivereitteni
partitive riveriäni rivereitäni
riverejäni
inessive riverissäni rivereissäni
elative riveristäni rivereistäni
illative riveriini rivereihini
adessive riverilläni rivereilläni
ablative riveriltäni rivereiltäni
allative riverilleni rivereilleni
essive riverinäni rivereinäni
translative riverikseni rivereikseni
abessive riverittäni rivereittäni
instructive
comitative rivereineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative riverisi riverisi
accusative nom. riverisi riverisi
gen. riverisi
genitive riverisi riveriesi
rivereidesi
rivereittesi
partitive riveriäsi rivereitäsi
riverejäsi
inessive riverissäsi rivereissäsi
elative riveristäsi rivereistäsi
illative riveriisi rivereihisi
adessive riverilläsi rivereilläsi
ablative riveriltäsi rivereiltäsi
allative riverillesi rivereillesi
essive riverinäsi rivereinäsi
translative riveriksesi rivereiksesi
abessive riverittäsi rivereittäsi
instructive
comitative rivereinesi

Synonyms

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See also

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French

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Etymology

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From a Germanic source (compare Danish rive).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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river

  1. to drive/set a rivet

Conjugation

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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rīver

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of rīvō

Middle English

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Noun

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river

  1. Alternative form of ryver

Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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river m or f

  1. indefinite plural of rive

Verb

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river

  1. present of rive

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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river f

  1. indefinite plural of rive

Verb

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river

  1. (non-standard since 2012) present of riva

Swedish

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Verb

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river

  1. present indicative of riva

Anagrams

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