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cluse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cluse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cluse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cluse you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
In many cases, italicized as a borrowing of French cluse. In Early Modern texts, possibly a continuation of Middle English cluse, Old English clūse (“narrow pass”).
Pronunciation
Noun
cluse (plural cluses)
- A defile or narrow gorge, especially one that cuts transversely through the rock of an otherwise continuous ridge.
1876, Elisée Reclus, The Earth and Its Inhabitants: France and Switzerland, page 150:[...] others are bounded by the steep walls of the cluses, these being the most picturesque; others, again, occupy the combes referred to above.
1892, Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, page 402:Penck states that many a cluse in the Jura may have been formed by subterranean streams widening their channels until the covering broke down and their subterranean valleys became exposed […]
1953, O. D. von Engeln, Geomorphology: Systematic and Regional, page 324:[…] narrow cluses still exist. The distinctive nature of the geomorphic forms of the Jura is indicated by the fact that each such item is identified locally by a particular term.
- 2024, Kholoud Kahime, Mohamed El Yamani, Stéphane Pouffary, Climate Change Effects and Sustainability Needs, page 83:
- cut by the wadis of the Atlas which gave birth to very steep cluses (Lechhab 1991).
French
Etymology
From Latin clusa.
Pronunciation
Noun
cluse f (plural cluses)
- water gap
- defile
Further reading
Latin
Participle
clūse
- vocative masculine singular of clūsus
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *klūsā.
Pronunciation
Noun
clūse f
- bar, bolt
- enclosure
- a narrow pass or passageway
- cell; prison
- dam
Declension
Declension of clūse (weak)
Derived terms
Descendants