gulch

[guhlch]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gulch ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a deep, narrow ravine, especially one marking the course of a stream or torrent.

Origin of gulch

1825–35; compare British dialect gulch, gulsh to run with a full stream, gush, (of land) to sink in, Middle English gulchen to spew forth, gush; expressive word akin to gulp, gush, etc.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for gulch

cut, ditch, gap, trench, channel, gorge, valley, arroyo, gulley

Examples from the Web for gulch

Contemporary Examples of gulch

But there turned out to be, if not a cliff, at least a gulch still embedded in the deal.
Cut the Payroll Tax, Help Working Class Americans
Justin Green
February 20, 2013
I don't mean to imply that doctors are all going to move to Galt's Gulch.
The Future of the MD
Megan McArdle
January 23, 2013

Historical Examples of gulch

In a moment afterwards they re-entered the house in Gospeler's Gulch.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870
Various
We were certainly in need of a regenerator at Jackman's Gulch about the beginning of '53.
The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other Tales
Arthur Conan Doyle
So we moved down the gulch a quarter of a mile and went into camp.
The Vagrant Duke
George Gibbs
Even now whenever I think of what Hell must be I think of what that gulch looked like.
The Vagrant Duke
George Gibbs
Sometimes we had a meeting of the residents of our own gulch.
A Gold Hunter's Experience
Chalkley J. Hambleton

British Dictionary definitions for gulch

gulch

noun

US and Canadian a narrow ravine cut by a fast stream

Word Origin for gulch

C19: of obscure origin

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

Word Origin and History for gulch

"deep ravine," 1832, American English, perhaps from obsolete or dialectal verb gulsh "sink in" (of land), "gush out" (of water), from Middle English gulchen "to gush forth; to drink greedily" (c.1200). Cf. gulche-cuppe "a greedy drinker" (mid-13c.).