ridge
[rij]
- a long, narrow elevation of land; a chain of hills or mountains.
- the long and narrow upper edge, angle, or crest of something, as a hill, wave, or vault.
- the back of an animal.
- any raised, narrow strip, as on cloth.
- the horizontal line in which the tops of the rafters of a roof meet.
- (on a weather chart) a narrow, elongated area of high pressure.
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- to provide with or form into a ridge or ridges.
- to mark with or as if with ridges.
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- to form ridges.
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Origin of ridge
before 900; Middle English rigge (noun), Old English hrycg spine, crest, ridge; cognate with Dutch rug, German Rücken, Old Norse hryggr
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ridge
Contemporary Examples
High on the slopes of Everest, some 70 sherpas surged over a ridge to see the beating.
He and his friend huffed the iron wheelbarrow up the ridge, lashed it onto the Jeep.
November drew near, cold below zero—Be thirty below, up the ridge—and still Don and Dan stuck it out.
He drove the highway to see if tracks led up the ridge toward the smoke.
Johnny was gone, over the ridge, to Bozeman, for repairs on his snowmobile.
Historical Examples
Aylward, Johnston, let your men form a harrow on either side of the ridge.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
We have plenty of room here, and you will have one comfortable night on the Ridge, at any rate.
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
I passed you in my buggy when you were coming in with your tent that day on the Ridge.
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
To advance further, it was necessary to dislodge the enemy from the ridge.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Besides, they can rake us with bullets from ambush, while we're climbing up the ridge.
The Rock of ChickamaugaJoseph A. Altsheler
ridge
- a long narrow raised land formation with sloping sides esp one formed by the meeting of two faces of a mountain or of a mountain buttress or spur
- any long narrow raised strip or elevation, as on a fabric or in ploughed land
- anatomy any elongated raised margin or border on a bone, tooth, tissue membrane, etc
- the top of a roof at the junction of two sloping sides
- (as modifier)a ridge tile
- the back or backbone of an animal, esp a whale
- meteorol an elongated area of high pressure, esp an extension of an anticycloneCompare trough (def. 4)
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- to form into a ridge or ridges
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Word Origin
Old English hrycg; related to Old High German hrucki, Old Norse hryggr
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 ridge
n.
Old English hrycg "back of a man or beast," probably reinforced by Old Norse hryggr "back, ridge," from Proto-Germanic *khrugjaz (cf. Old Frisian hregg, Old Saxon hruggi, Dutch rug, Old High German hrukki, German Rücken "the back"), of uncertain origin. Also in Old English, "the top or crest of anything," especially when long and narrow. The connecting notion is of the "ridge" of the backbone. Spelling with -dg- is from late 15c. Ridge-runner "Southern Appalachian person" first recorded 1917.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ridge
(rĭj)- A long, narrow, or crested part of the body, as on the nose.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
ridge
[rĭj]
- A long narrow chain of hills or mountains.
- See mid-ocean ridge.
- A narrow, elongated zone of relatively high atmospheric pressure associated with an area of peak anticyclonic circulation. Compare trough.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.