esker

American  

[es-ker] / ˈɛs kər /

noun

Geology.

1. a serpentine ridge of gravelly and sandy drift, believed to have been formed by streams under or in glacial ice.

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esker British  

/ ˈɛskɑː, ˈɛskə, -kə /

noun

1. Also called: os.  a long winding ridge of gravel, sand, etc, originally deposited by a meltwater stream running under a glacier

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esker Scientific  

/ ĕs′kər /

1. A long, narrow, steep-sided ridge of coarse sand and gravel deposited by a stream flowing in or under a melting sheet of glacial ice. Eskers range in height from 3 m (9.8 ft) to more than 200 m (656 ft) and in length from less than 100 m (328 ft) to more than 500 km (310 mi).

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Etymology

Origin of esker

First recorded in 1850–55, esker is from the Irish word eiscir ridge of mountains

Example Sentences

Canon Patrick McEntee, 69, from Esker Road in Dromore, is a former teacher, governor and college president at St Michael's College in Enniskillen.

From BBC • Jul. 31, 2023

Esker, a software company with U.S. headquarters in Wisconsin, began offering the benefit in 2019.

From New York Times • Jan. 28, 2022

“It was a privilege playing with him when he managed that,” Paul Rabbette, the men’s captain at Esker Hills, told the Irish Times.

From Golf Digest • Jul. 23, 2019

They had driven north because of the situation, many of them, so they even would carry, in one case, an umbrella from Esker Hills, the course where Lowry learned.

From Washington Post • Jul. 21, 2019

A similar window on the other side had a picture of the wet country, the distant woods of Mount Esker, and the sapphire sky just above the sapphire line of hills.

From Love of Brothers by Tynan, Katharine

Related Words

• bluff
• cliff
• dune
• highland
• hillside
• hilltop
• ridge
• slope