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river

Syllabification: (riv·er)
Pronunciation: /ˈrivər/
Translate river | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of river

noun

  • a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another such stream.
  • a large quantity of a flowing substance:great rivers of molten lava figurativethe trickle of disclosures has grown into a river of revelations
  • [as modifier] used in names of animals and plants living in or associated with rivers, e.g., river dolphin, river birch.

Phrases

sell someone down the river

informal betray someone, especially so as to benefit oneself.
[earlier referring to the sale of a troublesome slave to the owner of a sugarcane plantation on the lower Mississippi, where conditions were harsher]

up the river

North American informal to or in prison.
[with allusion to Sing Sing prison, situated up the Hudson River from New York City]

Derivatives

rivered

adjective

riverless

adjective

Origin:

Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, based on Latin riparius, from ripa 'bank of a river'

river in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of river in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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