overfalls
Americannoun
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Oceanography. water made rough by a strong current moving over a shoal, by an opposing current, or by winds blowing against the current.
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Obsolete. a cataract or waterfall.
Etymology
Origin of overfalls
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.
Mr Sharp said: "We are tired but feel quite ecstatic to have finished. "It was a bit hairy towards the finish... with strong tides and big overfalls in the dark.
From BBC • Dec. 15, 2015
And those whirlpools were not constant to one place, but drove about strangely; and sometimes we saw among them large ripplings of the water, like great overfalls, making a fearful noise.
From A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland by Dampier, William
We steered E. by S. constantly throwing the lead, in regard to the overfalls or ripplings, which were very fearful, yet had no ground at sixty fathoms.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Kerr, Robert
The current with heavy overfalls, caused him to be constantly taken under water, and also proved very trying to those in the boat.
From The Story of Paul Boyton Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World by Boyton, Paul
On the easternmost bank were nine fathoms, but on the other we found overfalls between five and seven fathoms.
From Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 by King, Phillip Parker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
