river

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun Literary

n. a large amount of liquid that flows quickly.

n. a large and continuous flow of a liquid other than water.

“Rivers of sweat ran down the athlete's face after the long race.”

“Following the heavy storm, rivers of mud cascaded down the hillside, blocking the main access road to the village.”

C1 · Advanced Countable noun Informal · Technical

n. the fifth and final card dealt in a game of poker.

n. the final community card dealt in games like Texas Hold'em, following the flop and the turn.

“He was losing the game until the river card gave him a winning hand.”

“The professional player checked his bet, hoping the river would provide the spade he needed to complete his flush.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Computing Technical

n. a line of white space that accidentally goes down a page of printed text.

n. a series of white spaces between words that happen to align vertically across several lines of text, creating a distracting visual gap.

“The designer fixed the text because there was a distracting river in the middle of the paragraph.”

“Adjusting the tracking and justification settings is often necessary to eliminate rivers that disrupt the visual flow of a printed column.”

C2 · Proficiency Slang

v. to win a poker game by getting the right card at the very end.

v. to outdraw an opponent by improving one's hand on the final community card.

“I had the best hand until he rivered me with an Ace.”

“It is incredibly frustrating to play a perfect hand only to be rivered by a novice player chasing a low-probability draw.”