overfall

/ (ˈəʊvəˌfɔːl) /


noun
  1. a turbulent stretch of water caused by marine currents over an underwater ridge

  2. a mechanism that allows excess water to escape from a dam or lock

  1. the point at which a sewer or land drainage discharges into the sea or a river

Words Nearby overfall

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use overfall in a sentence

  • Croton Lake Dam was first built with ninety feet of masonry overfall, the rest being earth embankment.

    History of the Johnstown Flood | Willis Fletcher Johnson
  • It was most probable that an overfall existed somewhere, and doubtless through a cleft in the granite.

    The Mysterious Island | Jules Verne
  • I think there is not in the world so strange an overfall, nor so wonderful to behold.

    The Discovery of Guiana | Sir Walter Raleigh