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Showing results for aiguille. Search instead for aiguilles.
Synonyms

aiguille

American  
[ay-gweel, ay-gweel] / eɪˈgwil, ˈeɪ gwil /

noun

  1. a needlelike rock mass or mountain peak.


aiguille British  
/ ˈeɪɡwiːl, eɪˈɡwiːl /

noun

  1. a rock mass or mountain peak shaped like a needle

  2. an instrument for boring holes in rocks or masonry

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

aiguille Scientific  
/ ā-gwēl′ /
  1. A sharply pointed mountain peak found in regions that have undergone intense glaciation. Aigulles are believed to be the remnants of the elevated areas separating two adjacent cirques.


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.

See Examples For:

Constantly I have been alone on the Glacier des Bois—and far among the loneliest aiguille recesses.

From The Life of John Ruskin by W. G. (William Gershom) Collingwood

She was reading the account of the first ascent of an aiguille in the Chamonix district, held by guides to be impossible and conquered at last by a party of amateurs.

From Running Water by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason

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 John Ruskin

The aiguille may generally be represented by the type a, Fig.

From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by John Ruskin

On the 15th, about midday, we arrived upon the summit of the aiguille, and found that we had actually been within one hundred feet of it when we turned back upon the first attempt.

From The Ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper

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