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river

 - 6 dictionary results
Whitewater River Rafting
1 & 5 day river rafting trips in Idaho. Reserve your trip today.
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riv⋅er

1  [riv-er]
Use river in a Sentence
–noun
1. a natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course or channel or series of diverging and converging channels.
2. a similar stream of something other than water: a river of lava; a river of ice.
3. any abundant stream or copious flow; outpouring: rivers of tears; rivers of words.
4. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Eridanus.
5. Printing. a vertical channel of white space resulting from the alignment in several lines of spaces between words.
—Idioms
6. sell down the river, to betray; desert; mislead: to sell one's friends down the river.
7. up the river, Slang.
a. to prison: to be sent up the river for a bank robbery.
b. in prison: Thirty years up the river had made him a stranger to society.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < OF rivere, riviere < VL *rīpāria, n. use of fem. of L rīpārius riparian

Related forms:
riv⋅er⋅less, adjective
riv⋅er⋅like, adjective
Whitewater River Rafting
1 & 5 day river rafting trips in Idaho. Reserve your trip today.
www.sawtoothadventure.com

riv⋅er

2  [rahy-ver]
–noun
a person who rives.
Origin:
1475–85; rive + -er 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To river
riv·er   (rĭv'ər)   
n.  

  1. Abbr. R. A large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other body of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries.

  2. A stream or abundant flow: a river of tears.


[Middle English rivere, from Anglo-Norman, from Vulgar Latin *rīpāria, from Latin, feminine of rīpārius, of a bank, from rīpa, bank.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

river 
c.1297, from O.Fr. riviere, from V.L. *riparia "riverbank, seashore, river" (cf. Sp. ribera, It. riviera), noun use of fem. of L. riparius "of a riverbank" (see riparian). The O.E. word was ea (see aqua-). U.S. slang phrase up the river "in prison" (1891) is originally in ref. to Sing Sing prison, which was lit. "up the (Hudson) river" from New York City. Phrase down the river "done with" perhaps echoes sense in to sell down the river (1851), originally of troublesome slaves, to sell from the Upper South to the harsher cotton plantations of the Deep South.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

River

(1.) Heb. 'aphik, properly the channel or ravine that holds water (2 Sam. 22:16), translated "brook," "river," "stream," but not necessarily a perennial stream (Ezek. 6:3; 31:12; 32:6; 34:13). (2.) Heb. nahal, in winter a "torrent," in summer a "wady" or valley (Gen. 32:23; Deut. 2:24; 3:16; Isa. 30:28; Lam. 2:18; Ezek. 47:9). These winter torrents sometimes come down with great suddenness and with desolating force. A distinguished traveller thus describes his experience in this matter:, "I was encamped in Wady Feiran, near the base of Jebel Serbal, when a tremendous thunderstorm burst upon us. After little more than an hour's rain, the water rose so rapidly in the previously dry wady that I had to run for my life, and with great difficulty succeeded in saving my tent and goods; my boots, which I had not time to pick up, were washed away. In less than two hours a dry desert wady upwards of 300 yards broad was turned into a foaming torrent from 8 to 10 feet deep, roaring and tearing down and bearing everything upon it, tangled masses of tamarisks, hundreds of beautiful palmtrees, scores of sheep and goats, camels and donkeys, and even men, women, and children, for a whole encampment of Arabs was washed away a few miles above me. The storm commenced at five in the evening; at half-past nine the waters were rapidly subsiding, and it was evident that the flood had spent its force." (Comp. Matt. 7:27; Luke 6:49.) (3.) Nahar, a "river" continuous and full, a perennial stream, as the Jordan, the Euphrates (Gen. 2:10; 15:18; Deut. 1:7; Ps. 66:6; Ezek. 10:15). (4.) Tel'alah, a conduit, or water-course (1 Kings 18:32; 2 Kings 18:17; 20:20; Job 38:25; Ezek. 31:4). (5.) Peleg, properly "waters divided", i.e., streams divided, throughout the land (Ps. 1:3); "the rivers [i.e., 'divisions'] of waters" (Job 20:17; 29:6; Prov. 5:16). (6.) Ye'or, i.e., "great river", probably from an Egyptian word (Aur), commonly applied to the Nile (Gen. 41:1-3), but also to other rivers (Job 28:10; Isa. 33:21). (7.) Yubhal, "a river" (Jer. 17:8), a full flowing stream. (8.) 'Ubhal, "a river" (Dan. 8:2).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

river

see sell down the river; up the river.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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