gulch

American  

[guhlch] / gʌltʃ /

noun

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

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gulch British  

/ ɡʌltʃ /

noun

1. a narrow ravine cut by a fast stream

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Etymology

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.

Explanation

A gulch is a deep, narrow ditch with a stream running through its base. A "gully" is very similar to, but smaller than, a gulch. In geology, a gulch is generally described as "a v-shaped valley," with either a dry creek bed or an active creek at the bottom. The gulch itself is formed by gradual erosion. In Canada, gulch is also defined as "a narrow salt water cove or channel." Gulch is an American word believed to stem from the now-obsolete gulsh, "gush out," from Middle English gulchen, "to gush forth."

Example Sentences

On Sunday, Dec. 11, 1921, what the Seattle Star immediately called “the greatest rainstorm ever recorded in Seattle” wreaked regional havoc, nowhere more dramatically than in the gulch.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 30, 2023

Homes slide into a gulch in Palos Verdes.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2023

Black Draw, a gulch running through the middle of the refuge, is normally as dry as a hot sidewalk.

From Salon • Jan. 21, 2020

A natural waterfall became the backdrop for their par-3 fifth hole and the linchpin of their routing, which plays along bluffs, through forest over rapids and, on the hook-shaped par-5 eighth, around a gulch.

From Golf Digest • Jan. 3, 2019

The stern men walked quickly to the gulch and across the foot bridge and they hammered on the door of the doctor who had studied in France.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck