river

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a large natural stream of water

   The river was navigable for 50 miles.

2. 2
   noun

   A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.

   Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods.

3. 3
   noun

   Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.

   a river of blood

4. 4
   noun

   The last card dealt in a hand.

   He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.

5. 5
   verb

   To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.

   Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades.

6. 6
   name

   A unisex given name.

   Wash: Little River gets more colorful by the moment. What'll she do next? Zoe: Either blow us all up or rub soup in our hair. It's a toss-up. Wash: I hope she does the soup thing, it's always a hoot and we don't all die from it.

7. 7
   noun

   A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.

8. 8
   noun

   One who rives or splits.

Etymology

From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (“stream”) (whence rival, derive). Doublet of riviera and rivière. Displaced native Old English ēa.