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REFERENCE

ridge

n. · v.
US //ˈɹɪdʒ// UK //ɹˈɪdʒ// ridge
  1. 1 mountain or hill (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a long, narrow hilltop or mountain range.

    a long, narrow elevation of land, such as a chain of hills or the crest of a mountain range.

    Example

    We walked along the narrow ridge to get a better view of the valley below.

    Example

    The hikers followed the rocky ridge for several miles, carefully navigating the steep drops on either side of the mountain spine.
  2. 2 roof peak (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical

    the highest horizontal line where two sides of a roof meet.

    the horizontal line formed by the junction of two sloping surfaces at the top of a roof.

    Example

    The workers climbed up to the ridge of the house to fix the broken tiles.

    Example

    The architect specified a reinforced ridge beam to support the weight of the heavy slate tiles across the expansive roof span.
    • eaves
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  1. 3 raised strip or line (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a raised line or strip on a surface, like on a finger or a piece of land.

    any extended protuberance or projecting line on a surface, whether biological, geological, or artificial.

    Example

    You can feel the small ridges on the surface of a coin.

    Example

    The forensic expert examined the unique ridges of the fingerprint left on the glass surface to identify the suspect.
  2. 4 weather (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Science

    a long area of high air pressure that usually brings good weather.

    an elongated region of relatively high atmospheric pressure.

    Example

    A ridge of high pressure is moving in, so it should be sunny tomorrow.

    Example

    The meteorologist noted that a persistent ridge of high pressure was blocking the arrival of Atlantic storm fronts, leading to a prolonged dry spell.
    • high pressure zone
  3. 5 to form into lines (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical

    to make something into long, raised lines.

    to form or mark with ridges; often used in agricultural or geological contexts.

    Example

    The farmer used a machine to ridge the soil before planting the seeds.

    Example

    The heavy rains began to ridge the hillside, creating small channels where the water flowed down toward the stream.
Origin

From Middle English rigge, rygge, (also rig, ryg, rug), 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”). Cognate with Scots rig (“back, spine, ridge”), North Frisian reg (“back”), West Frisian rêch (“back”), Dutch rug (“back, ridge”), German Rücken (“back, ridge”), Swedish rygg (“back, spine, ridge”), Icelandic hryggur (“spine”). Cognate to Albanian kërrus (“to bend one's back”) and kurriz (“back”).

Word family

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