cuesta

American  

[kwes-tuh] / ˈkwɛs tə /

noun

1. a long, low ridge with a relatively steep face or escarpment on one side and a long, gentle slope on the other.

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cuesta British  

/ ˈkwɛstə /

noun

1. a long low ridge with a steep scarp slope and a gentle back slope, formed by the differential erosion of strata of differing hardness

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cuesta Scientific  

/ kwĕs′tə /

1. A ridge with a gentle slope on one side and a cliff or escarpment on the other. The gentler slope is formed by the differential erosion of underlying rock, and the cliff consists of an outcrop of harder, more resistant rock.

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Etymology

Origin of cuesta

1810–20, < Spanish: shoulder, sloping land < Latin costa side (of a hill), rib; see coast

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cuesta

Another cuesta, rugged and wooded, is famous as the Argonne Forest.

From Time Magazine Archive

The easternmost cuesta is the dissected edge of the Lorraine Plateau, which Germany owned before 1914.

From Time Magazine Archive

The fortress of Verdun protects the Cote de Meuse cuesta through which the Meuse River cuts its way to Belgium.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Mesa Verde therefore is, technically speaking, a cuesta rather than a mesa.

From Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado by Anderson, Sydney

A cry arose that our chief was killed, and that as the English who had taken the town were marching upon La Laguna, they must be intercepted at the cuesta, or hill, behind Santa Cruz.

From To the Gold Coast for Gold A Personal Narrative in Two Volumes.—Volume I by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir