aiguille
Americannoun
noun
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a rock mass or mountain peak shaped like a needle
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an instrument for boring holes in rocks or masonry
Etymology
Origin of aiguille
1810–20; < French: literally, needle < Vulgar Latin *acūcula, alteration of Late Latin acucula, equivalent to acu ( s ) needle + -cula -cule 1; cf. acicula
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To these beds we shall return presently, our object just now being to examine the aiguille, which, on the Montanvert, forms the most conspicuous mass of mountain on the right of the spectator.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
Next, to the left, comes the largest of the buttresses of which I have spoken, almost forming an aiguille in itself.
From The Ascent of the Matterhorn by Whymper, Edward
The hollow in the heart of the aiguille is as smooth and sweeping in curve as the cavity of a vast bivalve shell.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
The aiguille may generally be represented by the type a, Fig.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
The larger masses of the whole aiguille, and true contour of this horn, are carefully given in plate 30, Fig.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
