▪ I. ravine, n.
(rəˈviːn)
Also 5 ravayn, ravyne.
[a. F. ravine a violent rush (now only of water), a ravine; identical with ravine ravin1.]
† 1. Impetus, violence, force. Obs. rare.
| c 1450 Merlin 127 Bretell smote hym a-gein..with so grete ravayn that the spere ran thourgh his left sholder. Ibid. 324 Thei..spored theire horse and smote in-to the hoste with grete ravyne. |
† 2. A violent rush of water.
Obs. rare— 0.
| 1611 Cotgr., Ravine d'eau, a great floud, a rauine, or inundation of water which ouerwhelmeth all things that come in it way. |
3. A deep narrow hollow or gorge, a mountain cleft, properly one worn by a torrent. Also
fig. Cf. the earlier
ravin2, the stressing of which is sometimes found with the spelling
ravine (see
quot. 1807 here, and those for
ravine-pass,
-rifted in 4).
| 1781 G. Washington Diary 30 Sept. (1925) II. 263 We also began two inclosed works on the right of Pidgeon Hill—between that and the Ravine above Moves Hill. 1802 James Milit. Dict., Ravine,..a deep hollow [etc.]. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. i. 267 Round each bluff base the sloping ravine bends. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xiv, Each naked precipice, Sable ravine, and dark abyss. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 189 Obliged to travel along the edges of frightful ravines, where a false step would have been fatal. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. i. §41 (1873) 31 The river had run in a ravine, 600 ft. deep and 200 broad. 1926 [see peak n.2 5 c]. 1930 R. Campbell Adamastor 51 The phosphorescent whales..Bore through the gloom their long ravines of gold. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
ravine-gully,
ravine-pass;
ravine-like,
ravine-loving,
ravine-rifted,
ravine-wrinkled adjs.;
ravine-buck,
-deer, the Indian gazelle (
Gazella Bennettii), which frequents ravines.
| 1877 J. H. Baldwin Game Bengal, etc. 202, I..informed my Commandant how I had disposed of one of the *ravine bucks. 1894 C. Phillipps-Wolley Big Game Shooting II. xlix. 356 A ravine buck with a broken leg will give a good run to dogs. |
| 1867 Jerdon Mammals India 280 *Ravine-deer of sportsmen in Bengal—Goat-antelope in Bombay and Madras. 1877 J. H. Baldwin Game Bengal, etc. 204 The little ravine deer is a regular bush-loving antelope, and much resembles a wild goat in its appearance and habits. |
| a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Etruscan Places (1932) 22 A modest, Italian sort of *ravine-gully. |
| 1885 H. O. Forbes Nat. Wand. E. Archip. 75 The parched surface of the ground broke up into *ravine-like cracks. |
| 1861 R. F. Burton City of Saints 224 The *ravine-loving quaking-asp (Populus tremuloides). |
| 1845 Mrs. Norton Child of Islands (1846) 93 Down *ravine-pass and mountain-gorge. |
| 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 68 To high Blencathra's *ravine-rifted head. |
| 1950 C. Day Lewis in Penguin New Writing XXXIX. 20 Earth's face grew rapidly older, *ravine-wrinkled. |
▪ II. raˈvine, v. rare.
[f. prec. n. or a. F. raviner in same sense.] trans. a. To score with ravines.
b. To hollow
out.
| 1858 G. P. Scrope Geol. Central France (ed. 2) 167 Causes which have cut up and ravined to a great depth..Les Bouttieres. 1896 Howells Impressions & Exp. 258 A gulf ravined out of the bank for a street. |
▪ III. ravine obs. form of
raven v.