gorge
n.a deep, narrow valley with steep rocky sides, often with a river running through it.
n.a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through the bottom.
“The hikers walked along the edge of the deep gorge.”
“A narrow bridge spans the gorge, connecting the two mountain villages that were once isolated by the steep cliffs.”
“Over millions of years, the relentless flow of the river carved a spectacular gorge through the limestone plateau, revealing layers of ancient geological history.”
Often used with 'deep', 'narrow', or 'steep' to describe the physical landscape.
From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin gorga, gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”). Doublet of gour and gurges.
The verb is derived from Middle English gorgen (“to eat greedily; to gorge”), a borrowing from Old French gorger, gorgier (modern French gorger (“to eat greedily; to gorge”)), from gorge (“throat”); see further at etymology 1. The noun is derived from the verb.
Clipping of gorge(ous); originally British slang.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.