river
Forms
- Plural
- rivers
- present (v1)
- river
- past (v2)
- rivered
- past participle (v3)
- rivered
- present participle
- rivering
- 3rd person singular
- rivers
Definitions
1.A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.
- Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods.
2.Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
- We crossed the river by boat.
3.The last card dealt in a hand.
- He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.
4.A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.
- We crossed the river by boat.
1.To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.
- Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #960
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Etymology
From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”).