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Nile

[nahyl]

noun

a river in E Africa, the longest in the world, flowing N from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. 3473 miles (5592 km) long; from the headwaters of the Kagera River, 4000 miles (6440 km) long.

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Compare Blue Nile, White Nile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for nile river

Nile

noun

a river in Africa, rising in S central Burundi in its remotest headstream, the Luvironza: flows into Lake Victoria and leaves the lake as the Victoria Nile, flowing to Lake Albert, which is drained by the Albert Nile, becoming the White Nile at Lake No, then flowing through South Sudan; joined by its chief tributary, the Blue Nile (which rises near Lake Tana, Ethiopia) at Khartoum, and flows north to its delta on the Mediterranean; the longest river in the world. Length: (from the source of the Luvironza to the Mediterranean) 6741 km (4187 miles)
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 nile river

Nile

one of the world's oldest surviving place names, from a Semitic root nahal "river." Unnamed in Old Testament, it is always merely "the river" (Hebrew yeor).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for nile river

Nile River

River originating in central Africa and flowing north to the Mediterranean Sea, with its delta in Egypt (see also Egypt). The Nile proper is formed by the joining of the Blue Nile, which flows from Ethiopia, and the White Nile, which flows from Lake Victoria. They meet at Khartoum, Sudan.

Note

At over four thousand miles, it is the longest river in the world.

Note

The Nile River Valley in Egypt is the site of the first great civilization.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.