ridge

English Online Dictionary. What means ridge‎? What does ridge mean?

English

Alternative forms

• rig (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English rigge, rygge, (also rig, ryg, rug), from Old English hryċġ (“back, spine, ridge, elevated surface”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrugi, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krewk-, *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).

Cognate with Scots rig (“back, spine, ridge”), North Frisian reg (“back”), West Frisian rêch (“back”), Dutch rug (“back, ridge”), German Rücken (“back, ridge”), Swedish rygg (“back, spine, ridge”), Icelandic hryggur (“spine”). Cognate to Albanian kërrus (“to bend one's back”) and kurriz (“back”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: rĭj, IPA^(key): /ɹɪd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪdʒ

Noun

ridge (plural ridges)

1. (anatomy) The back of any animal; especially the upper or projecting part of the back of a quadruped.
2. Any extended protuberance; a projecting line or strip.

   Antonym: groove

3. The line along which two sloping surfaces meet which diverge towards the ground.
4. The highest point on a roof, represented by a horizontal line where two roof areas intersect, running the length of the area.
5. (fortifications) The highest portion of the glacis proceeding from the salient angle of the covered way.
6. A chain of mountains.
7. A chain of hills.
8. (oceanography) A long narrow elevation on an ocean bottom.
9. (meteorology) An elongated region of high atmospheric pressure.

   Antonym: trough

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

ridge (third-person singular simple present ridges, present participle ridging, simple past and past participle ridged)

1. (transitive) To form into a ridge.
2. (intransitive) To extend in ridges.

Derived terms

• ridging hoe

Related terms

• Rhodesian Ridgeback

See also

• crest

Anagrams

• derig, dirge, gride, redig