riverbed

[ riv-er-bed ]

noun

1. the channel in which a river flows or formerly flowed.

Word History and Origins

Origin of riverbed¹

First recorded in 1825–35; river ¹ + bed

Example Sentences

Choose a place that was once wet—and Mars’s now-dry riverbeds, sea basins and ocean floors offer plenty of those—and do your spelunking there.

From Time

The species pushed over the brink include nine birds, one bat and one plant found only on Pacific islands, as well as eight types of freshwater mussels that once inhabited riverbeds from Illinois to Georgia.

From Washington Post

Thanks to data from rovers and other spacecraft, we know that the Red Planet once fairly sloshed with water—with dry deltas, riverbeds, and sea basins stamped into its surface.

From Time

It also calls for some other bells and whistles to tighten up the leaky watershed, for instance, in the border’s natural canyons, which collect a lot of polluted water flowing outside any riverbed or pipe.

From Voice of San Diego

To look at Mars today is to see a desert world, stamped with the dry riverbeds, delicate deltas and deep ocean basins hinting at the water that is no more.

From Time

Currency is a current, but corporate beavers are putting rocks in the riverbed stream of our economy.

From The Daily Beast

One parachuted bomb landed gently in a dry riverbed and was later recovered relatively intact.

From The Daily Beast

They might build one bomb and test it in a riverbed a few miles away.

From The Daily Beast

Accordingly, Alfred urged the pony across the flat plain of the ancient riverbed toward the nearest and only break in the cliff.

From Project Gutenberg

Near by was the smoke-blackened ruin of the farmhouse, fired by the Russians when they retreated from the riverbed.

From Project Gutenberg

The old mud-choked riverbed separates it just at that spot from the principal part.

From Project Gutenberg

"Juan told me last night that he had found another dead calf up the riverbed, and poisoned it," said Limber.

From Project Gutenberg

I crossed the dry riverbed and made my way slowly to Pomona, delivered the files, and reluctantly began seeking Miss Francis.

From Project Gutenberg