ridge

American  

[rij] / rɪdʒ /

noun

1. a long, narrow elevation of land; a chain of hills or mountains.

2. the long and narrow upper edge, angle, or crest of something, as a hill, wave, or vault.

3. the back of an animal.

4. any raised, narrow strip, as on cloth.

5. the horizontal line in which the tops of the rafters of a roof meet.

6. (on a weather chart) a narrow, elongated area of high pressure.

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verb (used with object)

ridged, ridging

1. to provide with or form into a ridge or ridges.

2. to mark with or as if with ridges.

verb (used without object)

ridged, ridging

1. to form ridges.

ridge British  

/ rɪdʒ /

noun

1. 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

2. any long narrow raised strip or elevation, as on a fabric or in ploughed land

3. anatomy any elongated raised margin or border on a bone, tooth, tissue membrane, etc

4. 1. the top of a roof at the junction of two sloping sides

   2. ( as modifier )

      a ridge tile

5. the back or backbone of an animal, esp a whale

6. meteorol an elongated area of high pressure, esp an extension of an anticyclone Compare trough

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verb

1. to form into a ridge or ridges

ridge Scientific  

/ rĭj /

1. A long narrow chain of hills or mountains.

2. See mid-ocean ridge

3. A narrow, elongated zone of relatively high atmospheric pressure associated with an area of peak anticyclonic circulation.

4. Compare trough

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Other Word Forms

• ridgelike adjective
• ridgy adjective
• unridged adjective

Etymology

Origin of ridge

before 900; Middle English rigge (noun), Old English hrycg spine, crest, ridge; cognate with Dutch rug, German Rücken, Old Norse hryggr

Example Sentences

Casanova fell 500 feet on Monday while hiking Devil’s Backbone, a sharp ridge with steep drops on either side, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

From Los Angeles Times

"A customer might very well buy and build roughly where we're standing right now," he says as we hike up to the top of a ridge.

From BBC

They continued through the heavy rain and wind and had just reached the ridge when Nathan started to feel a pain in his legs.

From BBC

The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set in Ashdown Forest, an area of open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

From BBC

While chatting outside the new house, which was built with fire-resistant materials, we gazed up at the ridge where the fire started.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hill
• rim