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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