kloof

American

[kloof] / kluf /

noun

(in South Africa) a deep glen; ravine.

kloof British

/ kluːf /

noun

a mountain pass or gorge in southern Africa

"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

Etymology

Origin of kloof

1725–35; < Afrikaans; akin to cleave ²

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.

We moved up somewhat nearer to the footpath and spent the night at the foot of precipitous mountains in a beautiful kloof.

From Project Gutenberg

We off-saddled, and soon the mantle of night hid not only the grand views of mountain and kloof, but also the sad spectacle of panic and confusion.

From Project Gutenberg

What beautiful views of kloof, valley, and mountain presented themselves everywhere!

From Project Gutenberg

The troops lying in garrison there immediately retreated to Lelyhoek, a beautifully cultivated rocky kloof near to the town.

From Project Gutenberg

It flew just too high, fortunately, over the heads of the throng of burghers, and burst in the kloof behind them.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023