swale
a low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land.
a valleylike intersection of two slopes in a piece of land.
Origin of swale
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use swale in a sentence
There is an additional cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our seat, his neck being broken.
Dracula | Bram StokerWe floundered in swales sponging full of dead leaves, and drew back, scratching ourselves on low-hung foliage.
Lazarre | Mary Hartwell CatherwoodThey crossed swamps and wormed through alder swales, coming out again on pine and hardwood ridges.
The Boss of Wind River | David Goodger (goodger@python.org)They grow almost everywhere in the north and east,—along roadsides, in meadows and swales.
The Practical Garden-Book | C. E. HunnHowever, they saw only antelope and wolves on the plain, and deer and elk in the swales and along the base of the foothills.
White Otter | Elmer Russell Gregor
British Dictionary definitions for swale
/ (sweɪl) /
mainly US
a moist depression in a tract of land, usually with rank vegetation
(as modifier): swell and swale topography
Origin of swale
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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