rivers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of river.

   Several rivers feed into the same broad delta before reaching the coast.

   Heavy rainfall caused three rivers to burst their banks overnight.

   Note

   One spelling serves as the plural for several different nouns. Most readers meet it as watercourses, or as any large flow of liquid. Typesetters, however, speak of rivers of white space running down a page where the gaps between words line up, and poker players use it for the last card dealt. There is even a river who rives or splits, and its plural is spelled the same way. Context, not form, tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of river.

   Note

   The verb behind this form belongs to the card table. A player who improves their hand on the final card and beats an opponent is said to river them, a use that echoes the noun for the last card dealt. It is spelled exactly like the plural noun, so the sentence decides which one is meant. A singular subject in front of the word marks it as the verb.

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