scarp

[ skahrp ]

See synonyms for scarp on Thesaurus.com

noun

a line of cliffs formed by the faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust; an escarpment.
Fortification. an escarp.

verb (used with object)

to form or cut into a steep slope.

Origin of scarp

First recorded in 1580–90, scarp is from the Italian word scarpa a slope. See escarp

Words Nearby scarp

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scarp in a sentence

There are also individual large boulders cemented into the front of the scarp, suggesting that the region saw high floods, says Perseverance deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif.
See some of the most intriguing photos from NASA’s Perseverance rover so far | Lisa Grossman | August 19, 2021 | Science News
They consisted of a trench seven feet deep; the bottom, from scarp to counterscarp, six feet broad; the top thirteen feet broad.
The British Expedition to the Crimea | William Howard Russell
And he walked to the window and looked down the steep scarp to where the river foamed in the bottom of the dell.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI | Robert Louis Stevenson
From the buttress foot a sheep-walk goes along the scarp—see, you can follow it from here in the dry grass.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI | Robert Louis Stevenson
The upland district on the western bank of the Trent terminates in an abrupt craggy scarp above the wide and level valley.
The Rivers of Great Britain: Rivers of the East Coast | Various

Reid seized that interval, and crying “Come on,” leaped over the scarp, and rushed up to the very walls.
The Land of Fire | Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for scarp

scarp

/ (skɑːp) /

noun

a steep slope, esp one formed by erosion or faulting; escarpment: See also cuesta
fortifications the side of a ditch cut nearest to and immediately below a rampart

verb

(tr; often passive) to wear or cut so as to form a steep slope

Origin of scarp

C16: from Italian scarpa

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

Scientific definitions for scarp

scarp

[ skärp ]

A continuous line of cliffs produced by vertical movement of the Earth's crust along a fault or by erosion. The term is often used interchangeably with escarpment but is more accurately associated with cliffs produced by faulting rather than those produced by erosional processes.

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