[riv-er] 
| 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. |
| 6. | sell down the river, to betray; desert; mislead: to sell one's friends down the river. |
| 7. | up the river, Slang.
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| riv·er (rĭv'ər) n.
[Middle English rivere, from Anglo-Norman, from Vulgar Latin *rīpāria, from Latin, feminine of rīpārius, of a bank, from rīpa, bank.] |
up the river
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| river (rĭv'ər) Pronunciation Key
A wide, natural stream of fresh water that flows into an ocean or other large body of water and is usually fed by smaller streams, called tributaries, that enter it along its course. A river and its tributaries form a drainage basin, or watershed, that collects the runoff throughout the region and channels it along with erosional sediments toward the river. The sediments are typically deposited most heavily along the river's lower course, forming floodplains along its banks and a delta at its mouth. |
up the river
To or in prison, as in They sent him up the river for five years. This phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. So used from about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.