# ridge

Pronunciation: say "RIJ" /ɹɪd͡ʒ/

## Noun

1. A chain of mountains or hills.
   - Simple: A long line of mountains or hills.
   - _The trail follows a ridge of wooded hills for nearly twenty miles._
   - _Storm clouds gathered over the distant ridges as we reached the pass._
2. A long, raised line or strip that stands out from a surface.
   - Simple: A long bump or raised line on the surface of something.
   - _A sharp ridge runs down the middle of each leaf._
   - _The plow left long ridges of soil between the rows._
3. The line where two surfaces meet at the top and slope down away from each other, as along a mountain's crest.
   - Simple: The long top edge where two slopes meet, like the top of a mountain.
   - _The wind was fiercest on the exposed ridge, where the slopes fell away on both sides._
   - _Footprints ran along the ridge of the sand dune, where its two faces met._
4. The horizontal line at the top of a roof where two sloping sides meet, running along its length.
   - Simple: The top line of a roof, where the two sides meet.
   - _The roofer replaced the cracked tiles along the ridge before the rainy season._
   - _A ridge vent lets hot air escape from the attic._
5. In weather forecasting, a high-pressure area that stretches out in a long band.
   - Simple: A long area of high air pressure.
   - _A ridge building over the West will push temperatures well above normal._
   - _Between the two troughs, a narrow ridge kept skies clear for most of the week._
6. A long, narrow rise in the floor of the ocean.
   - Simple: A long, narrow line of high ground at the bottom of the ocean.
   - _Scientists mapped a ridge running for hundreds of miles along the ocean floor._
   - _The submarine's sonar picked up a ridge rising steeply from the seabed._
9. The back of any animal, especially the upper, projecting part of a four-legged animal's back.
   - Simple: The back of an animal, mostly the top part of the back on animals with four legs.
   - _The dog's fur stood up along the ridge of its back._
   - _Fat had built up along the steer's ridge over the summer._
10. In a fortification, the highest part of the glacis, running out from the projecting angle of the covered way.
   - Simple: The highest line of the sloping ground in front of a fort, starting at a corner that sticks out.
   - _The besiegers pushed their trenches up to the ridge of the glacis before storming the covered way._
   - _Gunners on the bastion kept the ridge under constant fire so no one could cross it._

## Verb

7. To shape something into a ridge or ridges.
   - Simple: To make something into a long raised line.
   - _Potato growers ridge the soil over the rows to keep the tubers covered._
   - _The tide had ridged the wet sand into long, low bands._
8. To stretch out in a series of ridges.
   - Simple: To spread across an area in a series of raised lines.
   - _Beyond the river, the country ridges northward in long, wooded folds._
   - _Sand dunes ridge along the coast for several miles._

## Origin

From Middle English rigge, rygge, 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”). It is related to words for the back in other Germanic languages, such as Scots rig, Dutch rug, German Rücken and Swedish rygg.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ridge (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).