nappe

[ nap ]

noun
  1. Geology. a large mass of rock thrust a considerable distance along a nearly horizontal fault plane or in an overturned anticlinal fold.

  2. Geometry. one of the two equal sections of a cone.

Origin of nappe

1
1905–10, Americanism;<French: literally, tablecloth, cloth; Old French nappe, nape<Latin mappa;cf. napkin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nappe in a sentence

  • Quel foyer produit cette puissante lumire, dont les irradiations se promnent en longues nappes la surface du plateau d'Orgall?

British Dictionary definitions for nappe

nappe

/ (næp) /


noun
  1. a large sheet or mass of rock, commonly a recumbent fold, that has been thrust from its original position by earth movements

  2. the sheet of water that flows over a dam or weir

  1. geometry either of the two parts into which a cone (sense 2) is divided by the vertex

Origin of nappe

1
C20: from French: tablecloth

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