kloof

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch kloof (“ravine”) (South Africa).

Noun

kloof (plural kloofs)

1. (South Africa) A deep glen or ravine.
   • 1901, William Thomas Black, The Fish River bush, South Africa, and its wild animals

     Forming the south boundary of the valley is a range of disrupted bushy hills, with intervening deep and rugged kloofs and ravines, which constituted the retreat of Jan Pockbaas and his rebel banditti.

   • 1948, Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, 1987, Chapter 1,

     The grass is rich and matted, you cannot see the soil. It holds the rain and the mist, and they seep into the ground, feeding the streams in every kloof.

   • 1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage 2000, p. 172:

     Occasionally the narrow dirt road rose above the mist on the slopes of the high round hills, from where one looked down on the silver clouds in the valleys and kloofs below, a magical, incredible sight.

Anagrams

• Flook, flook

Etymology 1

From Dutch kloof.

Etymology 2

From Dutch kloven.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kloːf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːf

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch clove, see klieven.

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.