ridges

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of ridge.

   Snow still clung to the high ridges long after the valley had turned green.

   Tiny ridges on your fingertips make up the patterns of your fingerprints.

   Note

   The ending adds a full syllable, because ridge already ends in a j sound; the verb form is said the same way. The plural serves every meaning of the noun, from crests strung across a mountain range and the peaks of roofs along a street to the raised lines that make up a fingerprint and the backs of animals.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of ridge.

   A small plow ridges each row so the seed potatoes sit above standing water.

   Beyond the river, the country ridges away to the north in long, wooded folds.

   Note

   The verb works both with and without an object. With one, it means shaping something into ridges, as when a plow ridges each row of soil; without one, it describes land or a surface that runs in ridges, often followed by a direction word: the country ridges away to the north in long folds.

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