kloof

[ kloof ]

/ kluf /

noun

(in South Africa) a deep glen; ravine.

Nearby words

klister, klondike, klondike gold rush, klondyker, klong, kloof, klootchman, klopstock, kluck, kluckhohn, kludge

Origin of kloof

1725–35; < Afrikaans; akin to cleave²

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

Examples from the Web for kloof

But two hours later he forwarded another message to the effect that the enemy was advancing on Grobelaar's Kloof.
The Second Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the South African War|Cecil Francis Romer and Arthur Edward Mainwaring
However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just turned and marched for the kloof.
Long Odds|H. Rider Haggard
They approached a kloof, in which one of their number awaited them.
The Cape and the Kaffirs|Harriet Ward
The houses seemed to be tumbling over one another in a "kloof."
My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War|Ben Viljoen.

This time, instead of a bush-buck there were a lot of Kafir boys larking about the kloof.
A Veldt Vendetta|Bertram Mitford

British Dictionary definitions for kloof

kloof

/ (kluːf) /

noun

a mountain pass or gorge in southern Africa

Word Origin for kloof

C18: from Afrikaans, from Middle Dutch clove a cleft; see cleave 1

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