head wall

American  

noun

1. a cliff or steep slope rising at one end of a glaciated valley.

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Etymology

Origin of head wall

First recorded in 1640–1650 for an earlier sense “retaining wall built in front or on top of a structure”; current sense dates from 1790–1800

Example Sentences

A 1-2-4 concrete using crusher run stone below 1 in. in size was used for the lining and portal head wall coping and a 1-3-6 concrete for the portal head walls proper.

From Concrete Construction Methods and Costs by Gillette, Halbert Powers

The trips we tell about are all real trips, and if you go to Glacier Park you can take them all—all, that is, except, perhaps, the climb up the head wall of Iceberg Lake.

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard

At the upper end of the amphitheatre lay a round lake, about half a mile across, and at the upper end of that, right under the shadow of the head wall, was the glacier.

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard

They climbed steadily a long way up toward the steep head wall, leaving the deep brook bed at the danger point, and working on the side slope above it.

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard

On the head wall, they found only a few inches, and they were able to slide from one switchback to the next lower, thus cutting off the turns and descending with great rapidity.

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard