▪ I. river, n.1
(ˈrɪvə(r))
Forms: α. 4 riuere, rivere, 4, 6–7 riuer, 5– river (6 Sc. -eir); 5–6 ryuere (Sc. -were), 5 -yre; 4–6 ryuer (5 -eer), ryver (6 Sc. ryuir, ryvir, rywir). β. 4–5 reuere (5 -ire), 4–6 revere (5 -yre); 4–5 reuer (5 -ir, 6 Sc. -ar), 5 revyr, 5–6 rever (5 Sc. -eir, -ar, 5–6 -ir).
[a. OF. rivere, riviere, reviere (mod.F. rivière), = Prov. and Pg. ribeira, Sp. ribera, It. riviera, med.L. rivera, riveria:—pop. L. *rīpāria, f. rīpa bank. From OF. are also MDu. riviere (Du. rivier), MHG. rivier (G. revier), MLG. rivêr, revêr, obs. Da. revier, rever.]
I. 1. a. A copious stream of water flowing in a channel towards the sea, a lake, or another stream.
In some ME. examples the OF. sense of ‘river-bank’ appears to be possible.
| a 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 487 Gret plente hii founde of fiss,..Of wodes & of riuers, as is in þe contreie. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1884 His gle al for to here Þe leuedi was sett onland To play bi þe riuere. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 232 Upon a Rivere as he stod, That passe he wolde over the flod Withoute bot. Ibid. II. 161 In the valleie, Wher thilke rivere..made his cours. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 26 The Theban legeon,..At Rodomus ryver was expert there corage. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 248 Apone that riche river..The side-wallis war set. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 6 b, Than shall there be neyther..ryuer ne fysshe, castell ne towne. 1587 Golding De Mornay i. (1592) 11 As the River leadeth thee to his head, shal not the heade lead thee to the originall spring thereof? 1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Del. ii. ix. (1635) 142 All Riuers haue their first originall from the Sea. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 514 A Ship by skilful Stearsman wrought Nigh Rivers mouth or Foreland. 1727 Gay Fables i. xxv. 9 'Tis like a rolling river, That murm'ring flows, and flows for ever! 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 178 The bar of the river Tamantakka..makes that river's access less safe than the Pelangy's. 1823 Southey Hist. Penins. War I. 599 The crowd still continued on both sides the river. 1842 Alison Hist. Europe lxxviii. X. 1017 The great rivers of the world have now become the highways of civilization and religion. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geogr. v. 203 A river may be defined to be the surplus of rainfall over evaporation. |
| fig. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 14 Þese fisheris of God shulden waishe þere nettis in þis ryver. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 29 And soe this presente story is smyten in to vij. ryuers [text ryuerers]. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxv[i]. 8 Thou shalt geue them drynke of the ryuer of thy pleasures. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 180 They..throwe themselues into riuers, nay, mayne seas of errours. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 80 The fruitfull Riuer in the Eye. 1816 Byron Fragment, Could I remount the river of my years. 1892 E. Reeves Homeward Bound 13 It is amusing to note how stout conservatives have drifted down this river of socialism. |
| β 13.. Cursor M. 5922 (Gött.), For þe rott þat þar-on fell, Bath it stanc, reuer and well. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 327 Whan reueres wexeþ ouer mesures þey dooþ..harme. a 1400–50 Alexander 5279 Þare ran a reuire..vndire þat riche hame. c 1450 Holland Howlat 12, I raikit till ane Reveir That ryally apperd. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxv. 52 To eit..pertrik and plever, And every fische that swymis in rever. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 109 God turnit the craig in fresche reueir. |
b. Const.
of (the name of the river). Now somewhat
rare.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptist) 285 Criste..come to sancte Iohne howine to be in-to þe rywere of Iordane. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) i. 7 This Ryvere of Danubee is a fulle gret Ryvere. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. iv. iii. 199 Þe rywere of Ewfrate. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 33 Borne at Monmouth on the River of Wye. 1565 in Marsden Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (Selden Soc.) II. 55 Honnefleur and Rouen and other ports in the revere of Seine. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 192 She purst vp his heart vpon the Riuer of Sidnis. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 218 Those words concerning the River of Rhine. 1710 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. i. 323 It's watered with the pleasant River of Clyde. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Rivers, The river of St. Lawrence..pours forth nearly as much as this. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxviii, The river of Forth forms a defensible line. |
c. transf. A copious stream or flow
of (something). Also
fig.| 1382 Wyclif Job xxix. 6 Whan I wesh my feet with buttere, and the ston helde to me ryueres of oile. 1526 Tindale John vii. 38 He that beleveth on me,..out of his belly shall flowe ryvers of water of lyfe. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iv. 22 A Crimson riuer of warme blood. 1611 Bible Ps. cxix. 136 Riuers of waters runne downe mine eyes. 1767 Ann. Reg. IX. i. 98 The lava is really tremendous, the river of fire being..four miles in length. 1776 A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 144 In peacable possession of a town which we expected would cost us a river of blood. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxi, Beneath that long shining river of mist. 1898 Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 29 You away sweep Rivers of horse, torrent-mad, to the shock. |
d. Astr. The constellation Eridanus or Fluvius.
| 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 268 A greate tract of starres, whiche represent the forme of a Riuer: and therefore are they called the Ryuer. 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 487 Eridanus, the River. |
e. Used euphemistically for the boundary between life and death.
Compare the use made of this figure by Bunyan in his
Pilgrim's Progress.
| 1790 Burns Elegy Capt. Henderson xv, And hast thou crost that unknown river, Life's dreary bound? 1843 in Quincy Life W. L. Garrison (1889) III. 79 She had gone down with him [sc. her late husband] to the brink of the River, and..he had gone over and she returned. 1892 The Week (Toronto) 660 [Whittier] had at last crossed the river, on whose brink he had been so long waiting. |
f. Printing. (See
quot. 1948.) Also
river of white.
| 1898 G. B. Shaw Let. 5 Jan. in Ellen Terry & Shaw (1931) 287 Oh those proofs, those proofs! Imagine..sticking in words to make the printing look decent—to get the rivers of white out of it! 1927 ― Let. 7 Mar. in To Young Actress (1960) 114 They avoided white patches and rivers in the rich black block of letterpress. 1929 S.P.E. Tract xxxiii. 437 In careful book-printing the possibility of manipulating spaces is limited, because evenness is desirable, and rivers of white on the page must be avoided. 1948 M. E. Skillin et al. Words into Type 546 River, a streak of white space in printed matter caused by the spaces between words in several lines happening to fall one almost below another. 1967 Guardian 13 Oct. 5/3 Morison holding up a book, inspecting the printed page for rivers of white caused by bad printing. |
g. The finest grade of diamond.
Cf. river stone in sense 5 d below and
water n. 20.
| 1934 in Webster. 1946 G. Stimpson Bk. about Thousand Things 267 River and extra river are now used to denote diamonds of the finer qualities. 1965 J. Y. Dickinson Bk. of Diamonds viii. 219 River,..the finest color grade in diamonds; an extraordinarily transparent stone may be called ‘an extra river stone’. 1973 Times 25 Aug. 17/3 The (more or less) accepted English classes run thus in descending order: (1) finest fine white or river alias blue-white. |
† 2. A stream, or the banks of a stream, as a place frequented for hawking. Hence, the sport of hawking.
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3135 Brenne..couþe of chas & of ryuere, Inow of game of here manere. 1338 ― Chron. (1810) 94 Neuer on Friday to wod þou go to chace. Þe riuer salle þou forsake on Friday ilka dele. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 26 (Ellesm.), He koude..ride on haukyng for Riuer With grey goshauk on honde. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 622) 988 He was to þe Emperoure ysent, to..lernen chiualrie, Of huntyng, & of Ryuere. 14.. Guy Warw. 856 (Cambr. MS.), Wyth howndys we wyll chace dere And wyth hawkes to the ryuere. 1513 Douglas æneis v. Prol. 4 The wery hunter to fynd his happy pray, The falconer the riche riveir our to flene. 1615 Markham Country Contentm. i. v, To make your Hawk fly at fowl, which is called the flight at the River. a 1625 Beaum. & Fl. Woman's Prize iii. ii, He must..send me..by all means, Ten cast of hawkes for th' river. |
† 3. The coast or littoral (of Genoa).
Obs. After
It. la riviera di Genoa.
| 1549 Thomas Hist. Italie 185 He..gatte Sauona and Voragine in the ryuer of Genoa. 1693 Sir T. P. Blount Nat. Hist. 25 [These vessels] are built all along the River of Genoa, being very swift. |
4. Phrases.
a. to sell down the river: to sell (a troublesome slave) to the owner of a sugar-cane plantation on the lower Mississippi, where conditions were harsher than in the northern slave States; hence
fig., to deliver (one) over to slavery (
rare); to let down, betray.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1851 Mrs. Stowe in National Era 14 Aug. 1/2 I've had one or two of these fellers, and I jest sold 'em down river. 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson ix. 113 Ole Marse Driscoll 'll sell you down de river. 1927 Wodehouse Small Bachelor i. 21 When Sigsbee Waddington married for the second time, he to all intents and purposes sold himself down the river. 1941 Auden New Year Let. ii. 44 ‘I'll fix you something for your liver’; And thus he sells us down the river. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger ix. 98 ‘Perhaps we could persuade Mrs. Brewster to abandon that part of the pageant?’ ‘Oh don't!.. She'd like to sell me down the river as it is, cheap.’ 1955 E. Pound Section: Rock-Drill (1957) lxxxvi. 24 England not yet sold for the Suez—That would have been 20 years later, or was it '74? At any rate, sold down the river, passed over Parliament. 1958 Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago vi. 155 It's my considered opinion, Yurochka, we've been sold down the river. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 16 Nov. 3/3 Some aspects of Britain's education system needed to be put right but ‘we should not sell it down the river’ Education Secretary Mrs. Shirley Williams said last night. |
b. up the river: (
orig.) to Sing Sing prison, situated up the Hudson River from the city of New York; hence
fig., to or in prison.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1891 in H. Campbell Darkness & Daylight (1892) ii. 75 Lager-beer had come up since I went up the river. 1905 C. H. Day Actress & Clerk v. 53, I didn't go up the river for several stretches for nothing, I didn't. I've got a record. 1946 Chicago Daily News 5 Mar. 8/3, I done it. Send me up the river. Give me the hot seat. 1951 Wodehouse Old Reliable i. 18 A member of the jury which three years before had sent him up the river for what the Press of New York was unanimous in describing as a well-earned sentence. 1963 J. N. Harris Weird World Wes Beattie (1964) iii. 24 But I still want to talk to Mrs. Leduc and find out why she sent the boy up the river. |
c. down the river, used in various senses, as: into slavery (
cf. sense 4 a above); finished, past, over and done with; to prison (
cf. sense 4 b above).
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1893 ‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Dec. 238/1 Percy Driscoll slept well the night he saved his house-minions from going down the river. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement ii. 80 And up to eighteen months ago, I'd have told you that Claridge and Molton was one of the soundest concerns in the business. And look at 'em now. Properly in Queer Street. Absolutely down the river. 1931 Sun (Baltimore) 31 Jan. 1/5 True enough, I used to hustle a little beer in the old days—but that's all down the river. 1939 ‘E. Queen’ in Blue Bk. Mag. Oct. 18/1 ‘Mike's car's gone down the river.’ ‘I thought the champion was wealthy,’ said Mr. Queen. ‘Not any more.’ 1974 Times 31 Jan. 4/5 He had overheard Miss Jones threatening Mr Dee ‘to send him down the river for life’. |
II. attrib. and
Comb. 5. a. Attrib. in the sense of ‘situated in, on, or beside a river’, as
river-bar,
river-beach,
river-board,
river-bridge,
river-coast,
river flat,
river-front,
river-glade,
river-grove,
river hill,
river-island,
river-isle,
river-lane,
river-marsh,
river-meadow,
river road,
river-shore,
river state,
river terrace,
river town,
river-trail,
river-walk, etc.
| 1874 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 20 The gravel taken from the gulches and *river-bars. |
| 1895 Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk. 242 The dholes rushed up the *river-beach in a wave. |
| 1866 Conington æneid 221 When the Trojans moored Their fleet on Tiber's *river-board. |
| 1915 E. Pound Cathay 20, I had to be off to So, far away over the waters, You back to your *river-bridge. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 77 His destination was not far: a little under a mile to the river bridge, a little more than a mile beyond it. |
| 1535 Coverdale Jos. xvii. 9 Then commeth it downe..towarde the south syde of the *ryuer cities. |
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. xvii, By the *ryver coast. 1960 R. Campbell tr. A. Rimbaud's Drunken Boat in Coll. Poems III. 17, I felt no more the guidance of my tow-men As I came down by listless river-coasts. |
| 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 91 Marine currents, preying alike on *river-deltas, and continuous lines of sea-coast. |
| a 1816 B. Hawkins Sk. Creek Country (1848) 47 On the right side, off from the *river flats, the land is waving. 1862 Luck of Ladysmede II. 282 The chime of the abbey bells came to them over the river-flats. 1977 Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 62 (Advt.), A very scenic property rising from irrigated river flats to undulating and hilly terrain, with magnificent outlook. |
| 1820 Shelley Hymn Merc. 447 He right down to the *river-ford had driven. |
| 1855 Chicago Weekly Times 16 Jan. 1/1 To lease for a term of years. 200 feet *river front, ready docked. 1978 J. A. Michener Chesapeake 237 He had been discussing her with young men of the region, offering them..even a stretch of river-front, if they would marry his eldest daughter. |
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, This description applies to the *river-frontage. |
| 1848 B. Smith in Rep. to authorize Draining of Ever Glades (U.S. Congress Comm. Publ. Lands) 19 The name Ever Glades is doubtless of English gift, and probably was originally ‘*River Glades’. 1861 W. F. Collier Hist. Eng. Lit. 122 Shadowy river-glade and rolling plough-land. 1957 Blunden Poems of Many Years 284 You see Old Night Begin to shade the river-glade. |
| 1930 ― Poems 290 The secret paths of *river-groves. |
| 1793 J. Filson in G. Imlay Topogr. Descr. W. Terr. N. Amer. (ed. 2) II. 118 After passing the Miami *River hills..the country in places is broken. 1948 Clarke County Democrat (Grove Hill, Alabama) 29 Apr. 4/2 The river hill, while not yet quite subdued, is nothing like the formidable barrier that it once was. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 617 A *River-Island, insulated within waters. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 359/1 S. Anna [is] perhaps the largest river island in the world. 1913 J. London Valley of Moon xvii. 479, I wouldn't trade a square mile of this kind of country for the whole Sacramento Valley, with the river islands thrown in and Middle River for good measure. 1939 Auden & Isherwood Journey to War i. 31 The British Consulate is in the foreign concession, on the river-island of Shameen. |
| 1900 J. A. Joyce in Fortn. Rev. Apr. 577 Through the trees can be seen the town harbour, and the fjord,..as it stretches past headland and *river-isle out to the sea. 1947 C. S. Lewis in Punch 21 May 434/1 He held at the finish but a small river-isle. |
| 1781 S. Peters Hist. Connecticut 242 One acre commonly yields..from 40 to 60 bushels [of Indian corn] on *river land. 1899 T. Nicol Rec. Archæol. Bible x. 168 The fertile plains..of the Eastern River-land. |
| 1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings iii. iii. 224 The *river-lanes of France and the Low Countries. 1978 C. Tomlinson Shaft 43 They..narrow out into A now-smooth riverlane. |
| 1820 Shelley Hymn Pan 20 The edge of the moist *river-lawns. |
| a 1876 M. Collins Pen Sketches I. 72 The little lawn by the *river-marge. |
| 1838 T. L. Mitchell Three Exped. (1839) II. 89 It appeared to belong to the *river margin. |
| 1930 E. Pound XXX Cantos vi. 24 By *river-marsh, by galleried church-porch. |
| 1859 Ld. Lytton Wanderer (ed. 2) 211 Lady Eve..dwells beside The *river-meads, and oak-trees tall. |
| c 1847 Thoreau in J. L. Shanley Making of Walden (1957) 198 Men who frequent the *river meadows and solitary ponds in the horizon-connecting links between towns. 1912 P. S. Allen Let. 11 Apr. (1939) 101 We even found fritillaries growing..flowers which we have hitherto always associated with the moisture of Thames' river⁓meadows. |
| 1832 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 130 An extensive moor, or a great *river-plain. |
| 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 326 Rivers and *River Ports. |
| 1776 G. Washington Let. 27 Dec. in Boston Gaz. (1777) 20 Jan. 2/1, I formed my detachment into two divisions, one to march up the lower or *river road, the other by the upper or Pennington road. 1829 J. MacTaggart Three Yrs. Canada II. 202 When the snow falls deep, before the ice has had time to freeze to any considerable thickness, the river roads remain dangerous all the season. 1955 E. A. Collard Canad. Yesterdays 302 Some experienced travellers on the river-roads even carried ‘choke-ropes’. |
| 1770 G. Washington Tour to Ohio in Olden Time (1846) I. 423 At the lower end of the Long Reach..is a large bottom, but low, and covered with beach near the *river shore. 1842 Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 259 The balmy glooming, crescent-lit, Spread the light haze along the river-shores. |
| 1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) III. 321 The adjoining market and *river-stairs. |
| 1845 Southern Lit. Messenger XI. 578/1 There, too, should be present..all the *river States, to deliberate upon the present condition of those great arteries of commerce among them. 1976 Daily Times (Lagos) 4 Sept. 2/2 Divisional administration in the River state has been abolished with immediate effect. |
| 1852 Lyell Elem. Geol. (ed. 4) 85 *River Terraces and Parallel Roads. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles vi. xvi. 366 River terraces..are remnants of former floodplains dissected by the rejuvenation of rivers consequent upon uplift. |
| a 1850 G. G. Foster New York Naked (c 1855) vii. 74 Here he fell in, accidentally, with a rich banker and capitalist, from one of the *river towns. 1938 H. Asbury Sucker's Progress ix. 212 When they came ashore they demanded women and whisky, and the river towns provided both in great abundance. 1977 B. F. Chamberlin in Bond & McLeod Newslett. to Newspapers iv. 248 The legislature had been established as the ‘supreme power’ of the Commonwealth in an agreement among the early Seventeenth-Century river towns. |
| 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail iii. xxx. 211 The little procession..took its way up the *river-trail. 1923 L. Y. Erskine River Trail viii. 58 In the morning Geoffrian..set out for the river trail. |
| 1712 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 Aug., Pray observe the cherry-trees on the *river-walk. 1914 Kipling in Nash's & Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 181/1 A river front, a narrow terraced river-walk in front of semi-oriental houses. 1976 State Jrnl. (Lansing, Michigan) 11 July b7/1 Ducks are a long-time attraction to visitors... Now residents can enjoy them while strolling along the new ‘Riverwalk’. |
| 1837 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 12/1 The whole to be surrounded by a *river wall, 30 feet high. 1884 C. Davies Norf. Broads & Rivers xv. 110 Between the river-wall and the water is always a strip of land. |
b. With words denoting the course, or some part of the course, of a river or rivers, as
river-basin,
river-bend,
river-channel,
river-course,
river-edge,
river-head,
river-line,
river mouth,
river ravine,
river-reach,
river-system.
| 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 19 A map..completely divided into *river-basins. |
| 1898 W. H. Ogilvie Fair Girls & Gray Horses 33 By stock-routes brown and burnt and bare, by flood-wrapped *river-bends, They've hunted them from gate to gate—the drover has no friends! 1972 R. G. Kazmann Mod. Hydrol. (ed. 2) iv. 115 On the Mississippi River..a number of river-bend cutoffs have been constructed. |
| 1833–4 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 705/2 By the waste of the uplands..the *river-channels are raised. |
| Ibid. 705/1 This fluctuation of the *river-courses is excessively irregular. |
| 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi xxii. 256 St. Louis is a great city; but the *river-edge of it seems dead. |
| 1685 in Dryden Misc. ii. 408 It..Then to our Springs and *River heads ascends. |
| 1945 Finito! Po Valley Campaign (15th Army Group) 7 Behind these *riverlines were the machine gun nests. 1958 N. Levine Canada made Me v. 127 Old bits of dead grass, like tufts of hair, stuck out of the mud. Near the riverline the snow had not melted. 1979 R. Cox Auction ii. 41 ‘The Yanks must be going flat out,’ said Horst. ‘Thank God we're not defending that riverline.’ |
| 1872 Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 999 When they touch'd the second *river-loop. |
| 1790 J. Backus Diary 6 Dec. in W. W. Backus Geneal. Mem. Backus Family (1889) 93 Came down to the *river mouth of a large run. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxii, Hereward lay outside the river mouth, his soul..black with disappointment. |
| 1788 J. May Jrnl. & Lett. (1873) 75 We contemplated in our plans a grand bridge over the *river ravine. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 276/2 The river-ravine likewise crept backward, but at a more rapid rate. |
| 1849 Thoreau Week Concord Riv. 370 There is a pleasant tract on the bank of the Concord, which I have in mind;..the open wood, the *river-reach. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel xiv, Across sheets of river-reaches, pure mirrors to the upper glory. |
| 1887 Stevenson Merry Men ii. 77 Looking down the *river shed and abroad on the fat lowlands. |
| 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 468/1 Extensive terraces, through which the great *river-systems descend to the low lands. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 272/1 In a vast river system like that of the Mississippi, the area of drainage is..extensive. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. i. 9 For the main part the river-systems drain west in this area. |
| 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 24/1 The basins which occur in these *river-valleys. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 138 Our river-valleys are mainly the result of work performed by rain, river, and similar agents of denudation. |
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 13 Apr. 4/2 We fear..that the Zambesi *riverway is practically doomed. |
c. In the sense of ‘used or operating upon a river’, as
river-artillery,
river-boat,
river-craft,
river steamboat,
river steamer,
river traffic, etc.
| 1860 Spottiswoode Vac. Tour 88 The fifteenth [district] maintaining a battalion of *river artillery. |
| 1801 Nelson 10 Aug. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 452 The defence of our numerous landing-places is better adapted to our *River-Barges, than any other which we could adopt. |
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Fluuiatiles naues, *riuer or fresh water boates. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 460/2 The Lippe..is navigated..by small river-boats. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 16 This was the first time that I ever saw a real Mississippi river boat. |
| 1837 De Quincey in Blackw. Mag. July 94/1 From the want of bridges, or sufficient *river craft for transporting so vast a body of men. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 259/2 The Waveney is now navigable..to Bungay..for river-craft. 1863 Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 280 A crowd of river craft are generally moored in front of it. 1963 Times 18 May 16/5 (caption) Various kinds of rivercraft on the Yangtze Kiang in China. 1979 A. Morice Murder in Outline xiv. 115 A boat⁓yard belonging to..an old-established family firm, who hired out river craft. |
| 1857 M. H. Stacey Jrnl. 24 May in Uncle Sam's Camels (1929) ii. 28 What an immense difference we find between the quiet Sundays at home and the bustling ones on board these *river steamboats. 1902 Conrad Youth 67, I was going to take charge of a two-penny-halfpenny river-steamboat with a penny whistle attached! |
| 1833 E. T. Coke Subaltern's Furlough v. 70 The American *river steamers are noble vessels. 1903 Joyce Let. 8 Feb. (1966) II. 26, I..came back to Paris in one of the little river-steamers. 1936 Discovery Dec. 379/2 The ordinary river-steamer services. |
| 1879 Rep. Comm. Navig. River Thames p. xxx in Parl. Papers 1878–79 (C. 2338) XLI. 245 As to the hour at which the ordinary *river traffic or daylight excursions should end, there is more difference of opinion. 1968 W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. 40/3 Dangerous currents and river traffic. |
d. Miscellaneous, as
river-boar (
bore n.3),
river board,
river-breeze,
river-bud,
river-crossing,
river-cult,
river-damp,
river-debris,
river-dream,
river-fancy,
river-flow,
river-glimpse,
river-link,
river lot,
river-mist,
river police,
river trip,
river-voyage,
river week;
river blindness, (blindness due to) onchocerciasis;
river capture Physical Geogr., the natural diversion of the headwaters of one stream into the channel of another,
freq. resulting from rapid headward erosion of the latter stream;
river engineering, the branch of civil engineering concerned with the improvement and control of rivers;
river gravel, gravel that was formed on the bed of a river;
river ooze,
River Ouse, rhyming slang for ‘booze’;
river-pay,
-risk (see
quots.);
river stone, a diamond found during river-digging.
| 1955 Times 8 July 9/7 Some types of blindness are more intractable. Such, for example, is the notorious ‘*river blindness’ of the Gold Coast, where in the northern territories there are estimated to be 40,000 blind people. 1972 Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 4/4 One French project is to eradicate ‘river blindness’, an insect-born disease which has ravaged and depopulated the valleys of the Volta rivers. 1975 Sci. Amer. Oct. 53/2 There are villages in tropical Africa and Central America where as many as 15 per cent of the people are blind. They are victims of ‘river blindness’, a frequent complication of the parasitic disease onchocerciasis which..has recently been recognized as a major public-health problem throughout the tropical world. |
| 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax iv, I've often seen it on Severn... We often call it the *river-boar. |
| 1948 Act. 11 & 12 Geo. VI c. 32 §1 The Ministers shall..by order establish boards (to be known as ‘*river boards’) for the areas so defined, who shall have the functions conferred on or transferred to them by or under the following provisions of this Act, being functions relating to land drainage, fisheries and river pollution and certain other functions relating to rivers, streams and inland waters. 1963 Times 23 Jan. 6/3 The information they had gathered in the past fortnight from river boards throughout the country made it seem likely that when the thaw came it would reveal an urgent need for many land drainage and flood control schemes. |
| 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 454 The soft *river-breeze which fann'd the gardens. |
| 1820 Shelley Sensit. Pl. i. 46 Starry *river-buds glimmered by. |
| 1901 Geogr. Jrnl. XVIII. 227 Examples taken from various parts of Italy of alteration in the direction of valleys due to *river-capture, etc. 1937 Wooldridge & Morgan Physical Basis Geogr. xv. 211 The river-captures of the first cycle will still be legible in the pattern of the drainage, but there will now be no direct evidence of the former continuity of consequent drainage lines. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphol. vi. 112 The type of river capture described is largely explained by differences in rock resistance, but another factor becomes of importance in areas of permeable rocks: the possibility of underground diversion preceding and aiding surface capture. 1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 76/1 Possible signs of river capture that can often be detected in the landscape include windgaps and elbows of capture, incision of the capturing stream below the capture, and the evident misfit nature of the beheaded stream. |
| a 1951 E. Hill in Murdoch & Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 292 The blacks ran with him for four or five miles, as far as the *river-crossing. |
| 1965 Auden About House (1966) 29 Shrines where a subarctic fire-cult could meet and marry A *river-cult from torrid Greece. |
| 1851 Kingsley Yeast iii, The *river-damps are God's sending. 1963 Landfall Mar. 23 River-damp softened her hair: her skin smelled of soap. |
| 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse 121 The ridge of *river-debris after the flood, ran along the base of these strandlooper⁓dunes. |
| 1863 Ramsay Phys. Geogr. 106 The old system of *river-drainage. |
| 1936 Auden Look, Stranger! 15 Whose *river-dreams long hid the size And vigours of the sea. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §596 Pond-earth, or *River-earth,..is a very good Compost. |
| 1819 Shelley Cyclops 50 Here..the *river-eddies meet In the trough beside the cave. |
| [1882 L. F. Vernon-Harcourt Rivers & Canals I. p. v, In preparing a course of lectures on ‘River and Canal Engineering’..it appeared to me that a book might be useful.] 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 571/2 *River Engineering. The improvement of rivers may be considered under two aspects, [etc.]. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 585/1 Technical knowledge is inadequate to explain fully the relationship between stream form and valley slope, but it is necessary in river engineering to recognize it. |
| 1934 Blunden Mind's Eye iii. 170 Spenser, in his Faerie Queene..marries the Medway to the Thames with a great display of *river-fancy. |
| 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 26/2 The importance of a *river fishery. |
| 1960 Times 25 July 11/6 A rise in *river-flow. 1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 34 When they have a sufficiently high sediment concentration to give a density of the riverflow exceeding that of the salt water, rivers entering the ocean may similarly sometimes continue as underflows. |
| 1855 Lynch Rivulet lxxxii. v, A *river-fount unsealing In our dry hearts. |
| 1875 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Jan. 70/1 The ‘point’ above the town, and the ‘point’ below, bounding the *river-glimpse and turning it into a sort of sea. |
| 1874 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXX. 229 A careful examination of this very interesting deposit convinces me that we have here preserved portions of an old *river-gravel. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles iii. 61 River gravel is a major economic concern. It is used extensively for road and building foundations... It is also much needed as land for building on. |
| a 1862 Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) 251 The Allegash..here consists principally of a chain of large and stagnant lakes, whose thoroughfares, or *river-links, have been made nearly equally stagnant by damming. |
| 1704 Public Rec. Colony of Connecticut (1868) IV. 493 Part of a lot called the *River lot, purchased of the said Nathan11 Holt. 1968 E. Russenholt Heart of Continent ii. v. 76 Families already living along the Assiniboine, exercise ‘squatter's rights’, and lay claim to the newly-surveyed River Lots. |
| 1926 Kipling Debits & Credits 233 And the *river-mist runs silver round their knees! |
| 1863 Sat. Rev. 1 Aug. 162 He has..attempted to classify all the chief *river-names of Europe. |
| 1931 Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914–1918 (ed. 3) 350 *River Ouse, a booze, a drink(ing). 1962 R. Cook Crust on its Uppers ix. 76 The place still bulging with smoke and river ooze. |
| 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 134 *River-pay, a month's wages advanced to sailors with other allowances. 1825 G. F. Lyon Brief Narr. Unsuccessful Attempt to reach Repulse Bay 2 On the 16th Commissioner Cunningham arrived from Chatham, and the ship's company received their river pay, with three months' advance. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. §iii. 52 With some ash-colour intermixed; so as to look like a *River-pebble. |
| 1800 P. Colquhoun Treat. Commerce & Police River Thames i. 22 The nature of the several articles of Trade and Manufacture..cannot fail to produce a conviction of the indispensable necessity of a well-planned and energetic System of *River-Police; to regulate and control the economy of so vast a machine, and to protect such an astonishing mass and variety of Property. 1974 Times 15 Apr. 2/1 It sank before river police could note its registration marks. |
| 1859 Tennyson Merlin & V. 807 The rotten branch Snapt in the rushing of the *river-rain. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 576 *River-Risk, a policy of insurance from the docks to the sea, at any port. |
| 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. i. viii. 70/2 For pond and *river-shooting, these guns may be from 12 to 16 lbs. |
| 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. ix. 171 The gigantic bird-bones found in the *river-silts of New Zealand. |
| 1822 Shelley Fragm. Unfinished Drama 62 How oft we two Have sate..near the *river springs. |
| 1887 J. Mackenzie Austral Africa II. iv. iv. 87 The ‘*river stones’, as they are called, are usually more valuable than those found in ‘dry diggings’ or mines. 1904 L. J. Spencer tr. Bauer's Precious Stones I. ii. 186 The higher quality of the river stones as compared with those from the dry diggings does not militate against the truth of this theory as to their origin. |
| 1842 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) V. 393* The theory of *river-tides. 1855 Tennyson Maud ii. iv. 67 In drifts of lurid smoke On the misty river-tide. |
| 1898 J. S. Webb in Century Mag. Mar. 672 (title) The *river trip to the Klondike. 1912 W. Owen Let. 23 June (1967) 142 Mrs. Lott's River Trip is to be next Tuesday. |
| 1893 Dict. Nat. Biogr. XXXIV. 153 He..excelled in *river-views. |
| 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring 400, I hoped the *river-voyage would beat him, but he is too clever a waterman. |
| 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc. xiii. 406 Among wood, moss, leaves, and nuts,..described as *river-wash. |
| 1865 Kingsley Herew. Prel., To form, from the rain and *river washings of eight shires, lowlands of a fertility inexhaustible. |
| 1932 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems 30 Come then!.. In a week! The ancient *river week, the old one. |
e. With names of persons, as
river-bailiff,
river-boy,
river-consul,
river-deity,
river family,
river Indian,
river pilot,
river pirate,
river-thief, etc. Also
river-rat,
river-wolf in
fig. use.
River Brethren pl., members of a Christian sect originating (
c 1770) among settlers on the Susquehanna river, characterized
esp. by the performance of baptisms only in rivers;
river hog,
pig N. Amer. slang = river-driver.
| 1905 W. Owen Let. 7 Aug. (1967) 25 He was fishing this morning when a *river bailiff came up. |
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 117 Or sport in groups with *River-Boys, that lave Their silken limbs amid the dashing wave. |
| 1854 J. Belcher Relig. Denominations U.S. 919 Others were organized into a body called, The *River Brethren, partly from the locality in which they were first found, near the Susquehanna, and Conestoga, and chiefly from their baptisms being celebrated only in rivers. 1951 H. E. Giles Harbin's Ridge xxiii. 202 And they baptized different, too. Face forward in the water, three times. In the early days, back in Pennsylvania, they'd been named the River Brethren on account of it, I'd heard. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. i. (1614) 561 Some imagined him to be Nilus the *Riuer-deitie. |
| 1937 A. Huxley Let. 15 Dec. (1969) 429 This last is an appendage on one of the numerous vast estates of what are called ‘The *River Families’, who have been living here in a feudal sort of way, in some cases, for two or more centuries. |
| 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail lvi. 384 And now we've gone and bust, just because that infernal *river-hog had to fall off a boom. 1964 Outdoorsman (Campbellford, Ontario) Dec. 1/2 One may see a visitor with a misty look in his eye; an old blacksmith, top loader, barn boss, teamster, cookie or river hog who has returned to a fleeting glimpse of an era long gone by. |
| 1680 W. Hubbard Gen. Hist. New Eng. in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1815) 2nd Ser. V. 33 The *River Indians, such who had seated themselves in seuerall commodious plantations up higher upon Connecticutt river. 1785 T. Jefferson Notes Virginia 388 The Mohawks carried on a furious war down the Hudson against the Mohiccons and river indians. 1907 F. W. Hodge Handbk. Amer. Indians I. 786/2 Mahican (‘wolf’). An Algonquian tribe that occupied both banks of the upper Hudson r... To the Dutch they were known as River Indians. |
| 1697 Dryden æneid Notes 627 The Poet here records the Names of Fifty *River Nymphs. |
| 1921 Dialect Notes V. 113 *Riverpig,..a lumberman who follows the drive in low water and dislodges logs from bars, mud, etc. 1947 Sat. Even. Post 8 Mar. 20/1 River pigs bristled all around him, men who hadn't seen a town or a saloon for nine months. |
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 799/2 Mr. Clemens..in his character, first, as an apprentice to the occupation of a *river pilot. |
| c 1849 ‘N. Buntline’ B'hoys of N.Y. iv. 30 Alvorado began to see how well his friend and rival *River Pirate was situated. 1962 S. E. Finer Man on Horseback xii. 230 The force of river pirates known as the Binh Xuyen. |
| 1835 Mrs. Hemans Water-Lily Poems (1875) 608 Oh! beautiful thou art, Thou..stately *river-queen. |
| 1883 J. Greenwood Tag, Rag, & Co. 35 With enough of ‘*river rats’ to occupy my thoughts during my overland journey home, I paid my old waterman his due. 1884 Harper's Mag. 513/1 Observe the river-rats clustering about the groggeries. 1905 Bull. U.S. Forest Service LXI. 44 River rat, a log driver whose work is chiefly on the river; contrasted with Laker. 1976 Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 4 June 28/1 Tom Harrison, a ‘river rat’ since 16, has purchased the Gananoque Water Taxi. |
| 1853 Dickens Down with Tide in Househ. Words VI. 481/2 *River thieves can always get rid of stolen property..by dropping it overboard. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 368 River-Thief, one of a class of thieves in New York city who in boats prowl about vessels at night and plunder them. 1882 J. D. McCabe New York xxxiv. 518 Another dangerous class of criminals are the river thieves, or ‘River Pirates’. |
| 1835 Court Mag. VI. 33/1 They were *river wolves, seizing upon every canoe which floated on those broad blue waters. |
f. With agent-nouns, as
river-carrier,
river-crosser,
river-farmer,
river-inspector,
river-keeper, etc.
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, He could not be a lighterman or *river-carrier. |
| 1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger xviii. 167 He saddled the *river-crosser—a tall old grey. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 147 The dredgermen of the Thames, or *river finders. |
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 434 For the benefit of our *river fishermen I quote two recipes. |
| 1875 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 221/2 We had a fine company of these *river-inspectors along, this trip. |
| 1894 C. H. Cook Thames Rights 127 To every honorary assistant *river-keeper they give a ticket to fish from the weirs. |
| 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. i. viii. 67/1 They afford better sport to the puntsman than to the *river-shooter. |
g. Comb. with
pa. pples., as
river-blanched,
river-borne,
river-caught,
river-cut,
river-encircled,
river-fed,
river-formed,
river-rounded, etc.; also with
pres. pples., as
river-winding.
| 1788 Cowper Mrs. Montagu 8 The Cock his arch'd tail's azure show, And, *river-blanch'd, the Swan his snow. |
| 1928 Daily Tel. 4 Dec. 12/4 Splitting the market into two, for *river-borne and rail-borne supplies respectively. |
| 1924 A. J. Small Frozen Gold xii. 248 Others sat round the braziers and held great slabs of *river-caught salmon against the red-hot grids. |
| 1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. i. 81 Other authors have believed the lakes to occupy *river-cut valleys. |
| 1951 *River-encircled [see mountain-cresting adj. s.v. mountain 7 b]. |
| 1913 E. F. Benson Thorley Weir i. 21 A strip of *river-fed grasses and herbs of the waterside. |
| 1796 W. Marshall W. Eng. II. 49 A narrow flat of *river-formed land. 1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 50 Glacial erosion modifies river-formed valleys into U-shapes. |
| 1820 Shelley Hymn Pan 3 The *river-girt islands, Where loud waves are dumb. |
| 1864 Raine Hexham (Surtees) I. Pref. 6 Heavy..with grain and grass which that *river-given soil produces. |
| 1879 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 79 Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-racked, *river-rounded. |
| 1832 Tennyson Œnone 112 From many a vale And *river-sunder'd champaign clothed with corn. |
| 1951 S. Spender World within World ii. 39, I used to go for long walks and bicycle rides into the hilly, tree-scattered, *river-winding countryside. |
| 1883 Archæol. Cant. XV. 92 On the terraces are found *river-worn implements lying in the old gravel. |
h. With
adjs., as
river-dark,
river-thick,
river-wise.
| 1925 E. Sitwell Troy Park 100 She swims across the *river-dark vast floors. |
| 1924 ― Sleeping Beauty xv. 53 How *river-thick flow your fleeced locks. |
| 1934 Webster *Riverwise, adj. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 22 Apr. 3/6 Riverwise city officials..expressed belief the inundation would prove more annoying than damaging. |
6. Attrib. with the names of fishes or animals (
freq. contrasted with
sea-), as
river-bird,
river-fly;
river bass (
U.S.), one of several freshwater fishes of the family Centrarchidæ,
esp. the black bass,
Micropterus salmoides;
† river boar, a kind of fish (L.
aper);
† river bull, ? the rhinoceros;
river bullhead, the miller's thumb,
Cottus gobio;
river carp, the common carp,
Cyprinus carpio;
river chub (
U.S.), the horny-head or jerker,
Ceratichthys biguttatus;
river crab, any crab which inhabits rivers, freshwater pools, or swamps; also, a crayfish;
river dog,
† (
a) the river otter; (
b)
U.S.,
= hellbender;
river dolphin, (
a)
= dolphin 2; (
b) the Gangetic dolphin (
Platanista);
† river dragon, the crocodile (with allusion to Pharaoh of Egypt);
river duck (see
quot.);
river eel, the common freshwater eel (see
eel n. 1);
river garfish, an Australian fish belonging to the genus
Hemirhamphus, inhabiting freshwater streams;
† river gilt (see
quot.);
† river hawk (see
quot.);
river hen,
= water-hen;
river herring,
U.S.,
= ale-wife2; also, formerly, the mooneye,
Hiodon tergisus;
river hog, (
a) the capybara or water-hog; (
b) a South African hog of the genus
Potamochœrus;
river ibis (see
quot.);
river jack (viper), a West African viper having a flat head and a somewhat long horn on either side of the snout;
river lamprey, a freshwater lamprey,
Petromyzon fluviatilis;
river limpet, a pulmonate gasteropod of the genus
Ancylus, found in rivers;
river mussel, a freshwater shellfish,
Unio pictorum;
† river nightingale (see
quot.);
river otter, the common otter,
Lutra vulgaris;
river pearl, a pearl from a freshwater mussel,
esp. Margaritifera margaritifera;
river pearl mussel, a fluviatile mussel bearing pearls;
river perch, the common perch,
Perca fluviatilis;
river porpoise, a species of dolphin;
river salmon, the ordinary freshwater salmon;
river seal,
U.S., a seal which ascends rivers;
river-shell, a shell found in freshwater streams;
river-shrew,
= otter-shrew;
river snail, a kind of snail (
Paludina vivipara), found in lakes and rivers;
† river soldier (see
quot.);
river swallow,
† (
a) the bleak; (
b) the bank-swallow or sand-martin;
river tern, the common tern;
river tortoise, the ordinary freshwater tortoise;
river trout, a freshwater trout;
river turtle,
= river tortoise;
† river whale, ? the sheat-fish;
† river whisker (see
quot.);
river wolf,
† (
a) the pike; (
b) a kind of otter (
Lutra Brasiliensis) found in South America.
| 1857 Spirit of Times 11 Apr. 86/2 The Oswego (sometimes known as the ‘*river bass’) is the heavier fish, often attaining to eight pounds weight. 1877 Jordan N. Amer. Ichth. in Smithson. Coll. XIII. i. 20 River-Bass, Lepomis. 1890 W. D. Howells Boy's Town 30 There were men who were reputed to catch at will, as it were, silvercats and river bass. |
| 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars iv. 52 They heard the trump-billed *riverbirds calling their secrets one to another. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 353 What will they say then to the water-Goat & the *river-Bore, which in the river Achelous do evidently grunt. |
| 1639 Fuller Holy War ii. xiii, Strange creatures bred therein [sc. in the Nile], as *river bulls, horses and crocodiles. |
| 1776 Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4) III. 189 *River Bullhead, cottus gobio. 1842 H. Miller O.R. Sandst. iii. 77 The river bull-head, when attacked by an enemy,..erects its two spines. 1896 tr. Boas' Text Bk. Zool. 390 In the rivers of Great Britain is found the small River Bull-head. |
| 1653 Walton Angler xii. 236 [Bait] for a *River Carp. 1726 Gentl. Angler 63 Carp spawn generally in May, or the beginning of April, especially the River-Carp. 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 412 The River-Carp [of Central America]. Its shape, colour and taste resemble ours. |
| 1882 *River chub [see horny-head s.v. horny a. (n.) 7]. 1884 Jordan Fish. U.S. in Senate Misc. VI. i. 617 The ‘Horny-head’, ‘River Chub’, or ‘Jerker’ is one of the most widely diffused of fresh-water fishes. |
| 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon iii. iii. 96 The *River Crab or Cray-fish (Astacus Fluviatilis) is a decapod crustacean. 1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 275/2 River-Crab (Thelphusa depressa). |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 206 Otterey, that is, The River of Otters, or *River-Dogs, which we call Otters. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Epid. 114 ætius..prescribeth the stones of the Otter, or River-dog, as succedaneous unto Castoreum. 1876 Goode Anim. Res. in Smithson. Coll. XIII. 13 Proteida. (River-dogs, hell-benders.) |
| 1781 Pulteney View Writings Linnæus 95 Coryphæna,..*River Dolphin. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 191 Thus with ten wounds This *River-dragon..submits To let his sojourners depart. |
| 1837 Swainson Nat. Hist. & Classif. Birds II. 189 The Anatinæ, or *river ducks, show the typical perfection of the whole family [etc.]. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 285 River ducks..are not by any means confined to fresh waters, and some species constantly associate with the sea-ducks. |
| 1769 J. Wallis Nat. Hist. Northumb. I. 391 The *River-Eel is frequently taken from two to three feet long in our alpine stony rivers. |
| 1958 J. Carew Black Midas vi. 128 A *river fly 'lighted on the tip of Belle's nose. |
| 1883 E. P. Ramsay Food-Fishes N.S. Wales 28 The two species..Hemirhamphus intermedius (the sea gar-fish), and H. regularis (known as the *river gar-fish). |
| 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 413 The *River-Gilt [of Central America] hath small scales with a Blush of Gold towards the Back. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Faulcon rivereux, that preyes on..riuer fowle; a *riuer Hawke, or Hawke for the riuer. |
| 1894 G. Parker Trail of Sword xi, The cries of herons, loons, and *river-hens. |
| 1842 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. iv. 266 [The river mooneye] is known under the popular names of Herring, *River Herring, and Toothed Herring. 1884 Cent. Mag. Apr. 909/2 The different townships on Cape Cod protect the..‘river herring’. 1977 Hongkong Standard 12 Apr. 2/8 Officials of the National Marine Fishery Services found illegal amounts of river herring in the trawler's hold 240 miles southeast of Boston. |
| 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 400 The *River-Hog [of Central America] feeds on Grass and divers Fruits, can swim and dive well. 1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. II. 150 Even the Red River hog (Potamochœrus penicillatus)..has bred twice in the Zoological Gardens. |
| 1879 J. G. Wood Waterton's Wand. S. Amer. 402 The *River Ibis (Ibis infuscatus) is found..on the rivers of Guiana. |
| 1877 Nature Oct. 531/2 A *River Jack Viper (Vipera rhinoceros) from West Africa. |
| 1836 Sir J. Richardson Fauna Bor. Amer. III. 294 Petromyzon Fluviatilis (Linn.), *River Lamprey. 1880–4 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 362 It has been questioned whether this fish [Petromyzon branchialis] is not the young form of the river lamprey. |
| 1778 Da Costa Brit. Conch. 1/1 The Limpet, *River. 1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 138/1 In Ancylus (River Limpets) it is limpet-shaped. |
| 1769 J. Wallis Nat. Hist. Northumb. I. 402 The fresh-water shell-fishes,..or *River-Muscles, are plentiful in most of our rivers. 1776 Da Costa Elem. Conch. 295 The Pearl River Muscle. 1851 Richardson Geol. (1855) 435 A fresh⁓water deposit containing the shells of Unio, a river mussel. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Rousserole, the *Riuer Nightingale; a kind of Kings-fisher. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 63/2 The Otters..consist of two forms nearly allied: the first, including the *River Otters..; the second, the Sea Otter. |
| 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 447/2 *River-pearls are produced by the fresh-water mussels inhabiting the mountain-streams of temperate climates in the northern hemisphere. 1963 P. Moyes Murder à la Mode iii. 55 Get me lots of gold bracelets and some river pearls. 1975 Times 6 Mar. 5/1 The borders..are adorned with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and river pearls. |
| 1896 tr. Boas' Text Bk. Zool. 315 The River Mussel (Unio) and the *River Pearl Mussel (Margaritana margaritifera), which are common in England, are allied forms. |
| 1836 Sir J. Richardson Fauna Bor. Amer. III. 1 This fish [Perca flavescens, (Cuvier), American perch] has a close resemblance to the *river Perch [Perca fluviatilis] of Europe. 1884 Jordan Fisheries U.S. in Senate Misc. VI. i. 279 ‘River Perch’ (Hysterocarpus Traski, Gibbons). |
| 1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 97, I saw several *river-porpoises, of the kind the natives call the Bolan. |
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 440 *River-salmon, not anadromous. |
| 1851 Zoologist IX. 3298 The fur-seal and *river-seal are found. |
| c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. x. §99 A thin-rib'd Luzone *River-shell. 1816 T. Brown Elem. Conch. 130 River and land shells are mostly thinner than those of the sea. |
| 1776 Da Costa Elem. Conch. 201 The Planorbis *River Snail. 1859–62 Richardson Mus. Nat. Hist. II. 339/2 The species of River Snails, amounting to upwards of sixty. |
| 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 416 The *River Souldier [of Central America]. It's mail'd somewhat like the Sturgeon, the Meat good. |
| 1653 Walton Angler xvi. 205 There is also a Bleak, a fish that is ever in motion, and therefore called by some the *River-Swallow. 1817 T. Forster Nat. Hist. Swallow Tribe (ed. 6) 79 Hirundo Riparia, Sandmartin, Sand⁓swallow, Bankmartin, or River Swallow. |
| 1831 Wilson's Amer. Ornith. IV. 358 *River tern, Sterna fluviatilis. |
| 1839 Swainson Nat. Hist. Fishes, etc. II. 344 Emydæ, *River Tortoises. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 74/2 Potamians, or River Tortoises,..live constantly in the water, only coming out occasionally. |
| 1834 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 6 Dec. 357/3 Fish (we speak of *river trout) spawn seldom in such [slow, muddy] waters. 1867 Harper's Mag. Dec. 48/1 He has already achieved unequalled success in breeding river-trout. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 23 Feb. 5/2 A big river-trout will lie quietly head to stream. |
| 1802 Willich Domest. Encycl. IV. 232/2 The orbicularis, or common *river-turtle, inhabits the milder climates of Europe. 1895 F. A. Swettenham Malay Sk. 212 The river-turtle is a great deal smaller than the sea-turtle. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 242 In some..riuers..there be fish found full as bigge: and namely, the *riuer-Whale called Silurus, in Nilus. 1681 Grew Musæum i. §v. ii. 103 The Head of the River-Whale. |
| 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 418 The *River Whisker. Has long black Whiskers but no Scales: it tastes well, and is frequently eaten. |
| 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 279 Pikes or *River-wolves are greatly commended..for a wholesome Meat. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 66/2 This is the Lobo de rio (River Wolf) of the colonists. |
7. Attrib. with names of trees, plants, etc., as
river-cress,
river-flag,
river palm,
river-reed,
river sponge,
river willow;
river birch, the red birch,
Betula nigra;
river black-oak, an Australian tree (see
quot.);
river lettuce, a kind of weed, very common in tropical rivers and streams; the water lettuce,
Pistia stratiotes;
river mangrove (see
quot. and
mangrove1 2);
river oak, an Australian tree of the genus
Casuarina;
river pear,
= anchovy-pear;
river poisonous tree, a shrub of the genus
Excæcaria (see
quot.);
river poplar (see
quot.);
river (red) gum, the most widespread of the red gum-trees,
Eucalyptus camaldulensis;
cf. red gum2 2;
river she-oak, a tree of the genus
Casuarina (
cf. she-oak);
river tea-tree, the broad-leaved tea-tree,
Callistemon salignus;
river tree (see
quots.);
river white gum, a gum-tree,
E. andreana, with smooth white bark.
| 1853 W. Darlington Flora Cestrica (ed. 3) 275 Black Betula. Black Birch. Red Birch. *River Birch. 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 161 Red Birch. River Birch... Used in the manufacture of furniture. 1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World xiii. 104/1 The river birch grows in lowlands from Massachusetts to Florida. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 122 Casuarina suberosa,..‘*River Black-oak’. |
| 1953 A. Clarke Moment Next to Nothing I. i. 18 I've little to offer a guest... But it is yours, a round of bread, a pick Of *river-cress and goat-cheese. |
| 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! ii, A car wherein sate, amid reeds and *river-flags, three or four pretty girls. |
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 378 Great floating masses of *river lettuce (Pistia stratiotes). |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 370 ægiceras majus,..‘*River Mangrove’. A shrub or small tree. Wood of light colour, close-grained, and easily worked. |
| 1838 T. L. Mitchell Three Exped. (1839) I. 39 [The] banks were overhung by the dense, umbrageous foliage of the casuarina, or ‘*river-oak’ of the colonists. |
| 1964 D. Varaday Gara-Yaka ix. 74 In the lush valleys among the rock forts..there stand magnificent *River Palms. |
| 1696 Plukenet Opera Bot. II. 32 Anona Americana,..Anchovie Pear, & aliquando *River Pear, Nostratibus nuncupatur. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 187 Excæcaria Agallocha,..‘*River Poisonous Tree’... It produces..an acrid, milky juice. |
| 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 512/1 The P[opulus] canadensis of Michaux..in New England..is sometimes called the ‘*River Poplar’. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 431 This particular specimen was collected by Sir William Macarthur, and called by him ‘*River Gum of Camden’. He describes it..as a small, quick-growing species, very elegant when in blossom. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling ii. 17 A single line of railway runs straight out into the back country..and stops within sight of the river gums. 1930 A. J. Ewart Flora Victoria 821 River Red Gum. A fairly tall tree, up to 80 or 150 feet high, with a greyish-white bark shedding in thin leaves or flakes. 1963 W. E. Harney To Ayers Rock & Beyond iii. 29 The gaunt river-gums..grow along the bank and bed of this one-time mighty river. 1973 G. M. Chippendale Eucalypts W. Austral. Goldfields 183/2 The river red gum is the most widespread eucalypt in Australia. |
| 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 134 By the banks the *river-reed is cut. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 398 Casuarina glauca,..‘*River She-oak’. |
| 1712 J. Morton Northampt. vi. §22. 367 The brittle-branched *River Spunge. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 390 Callistemon salignus,..‘*River Tea-tree’. |
| 1705 Plukenet Opera Bot. IV. 176 Potamodendron, arbor..amnicola, Barbadensibus *River Tree nuncupata. 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 436 River Tree. Because it always grows on its Banks, and shoots its Roots on the Water; it bears a beautiful Umbel of small 5 leaved scarlet Flowers. 1838 T. L. Mitchell Three Exped. (1839) II. 51 A line of yarra river-trees. |
| 1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New South Wales 58 *River White Gum.—Trunk smooth and nearly white. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Pl. 430 A variety of this gum (E. radiata) is called in New South Wales ‘White Gum’ or ‘River White Gum’. 1961 Penfold & Willis Eucalypts xii. 249 The tree [sc. E. andreana] is known as ‘White Top’, or ‘River White Gum’, and occurs fairly plentifully on the river banks and mountain ranges of eastern New South Wales. |
| 1963 M. Shadbolt Summer Fires & Winter Country 233 In summer we swam down under the *river-willows. |
▸
Poker. With
the.
(a) down (also up) the river: in the closing stages of a hand;
(b) (more fully
river card) the last card dealt to a player; (now more usually) the fifth and final community card to be dealt in Hold 'Em and Omaha.
| 1978 D. Brunson How I made over $1,000,000 playing Poker 140 Wait until Fifth or Sixth St. to raise—because by then you can be pretty sure that they'll be going down the river (to the end) with you. 1978 D. Brunson How I made over $1,000,000 playing Poker Gloss. 544 River card, the last (or 7th) card dealt face down to a player in Razz or Seven-Stud. 1979 Washington Post 24 June m6/2, I got kings up the river. 1981 in T. L. Clark Dict. Gambling & Gaming (1987) 182/1 You might catch something good on the flop..and then get snapped off down the river if somebody fills a flush on sixth street. 1985 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 3 Feb. (Travel section) 14, I had to buy one more time after going all-in on three kings and having them beat by a flush made on the river. 1997 Poker Mag. Premiere 49/2 The river card was the Ace of diamonds. 2000 B. McNally How to play Poker & Win 87 Surinder made a straight on fourth street, but the Bandit filled a full house on the river. |
▪ II. river, n.2 (
ˈraɪvə(r))
Also 5–7 (9)
ryver, 6
Sc. rivere, 6–7
riuer.
[f. rive v.1 + -er1.] 1. One who rives, rends, or cleaves. Also in combs., as
block-river,
girnel-river,
lath-river.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 310/1 A Ryver, lacerator. 1508 [see girnel n. b]. 1610 [see lath n. 4]. 1611 Cotgr., Fendeur, a cleauer, slitter; a riuer. 1671 Eachard Obs. Answ. Cont. Clergy 22 An honest Block-River, with his Beetle, heartily calling. 1865 W. White Eastern Eng. I. 146 These women are known as ‘ryvers’, because they rive or rend the gills with their thumbs to make way for the stick. 1884 Good Words June 395/1 Men have to serve seven years in the quarries..before they get full wages. They then become ‘rivers’ or ‘trimmers’. |
† 2. One who robs; a reaver.
Obs.| 1513 More Chron., Rich. III, Wks. 40/1 Robbers and riuers walking at libertie vncorrected. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 341 Ane multitude..Off theif and riuer..hereit all the landis of Kyntyre. 1568 Henryson's Cock & Fox 180 (Bann. MS.), Nay, murther theif and rivere, stand on reir. Ibid. (ed. 1631), No, false riuer and theefe, stand not mee neere. |
▪ III. river, v. rare.
(
ˈrɪvə(r))
[f. river n.1] 1. trans. † To wash (wool or sheep) in a river.
| 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §1 No maner person..[shall] winde..any fleesse of wolle beinge not sufficiently riuered or wasshed. Ibid., To riuer or washe their sheepe afore they be shorne. 1724 [see rivering vbl. n.]. |
2. intr. To follow a river-like course.
| 1921 A. Clarke Sword of West 23 Far below me lay A deep green valley rivering through grey mist. |