Meaning and Origin
What does the name Ridge mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
- The back, or top of the back; a crest.
- A range of hills or mountains, or the upper part of such a range; any extended elevation between valleys."The frozen ridgesof the Alps." [Shak.]"Part rise crystal wall, or ridge direct." [Milton.]
- A raised line or strip, as of ground thrown up by a plow or left between furrows or ditches, or as on the surface of metal, cloth, or bone, etc.
- [Arch] The intersection of two surface forming a salient angle, especially the angle at the top between the opposite slopes or sides of a roof or a vault.
- [Fort] The highest portion of the glacis proceeding from the salient angle of the covered way.
Etymology: OE. rigge the back, AS. hrycg; akin to D. rug, G. rÜcken, OHG. rucki hrukki, Icel. hryggr, Sw. rugg, Dan. ryg. √16
- To form a ridge of; to furnish with a ridge or ridges; to make into a ridge or ridges."Bristles ranged like those that ridge the back Of chafed wild boars." [Milton.]
- To form into ridges with the plow, as land.
- To wrinkle."With a forehead ridged." [Cowper.]
- A beam laid along the edge where two sloping sides of a roof meet at the top; provides an attachment for the upper ends of rafters
- Any long raised border or margin of a bone or tooth or membrane
- A long narrow natural elevation or striation
- A long narrow range of hills
- A long narrow natural elevation on the floor of the ocean
- Any long raised strip
- Form into a ridge
- Spade into alternate ridges and troughs ("ridge the soil")
- Throw soil toward (a crop row) from both sides ("He ridged his corn")
- Plough alternate strips by throwing the furrow onto an unploughed strip
- Extend in ridges ("The land ridges towards the South")
From Middle English rigge, rygge, (also rig, ryg, rug), from Old English hrycg (“back, spine, ridge, elevated surface”), from Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreuk-, *(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”).
- (anatomy) The back of any animal; especially the upper or projecting part of the back of a quadruped.
- Any extended protuberance; a projecting line or strip.
- The line along which two sloping surfaces meet which diverge towards the ground.
- The highest point on a roof, represented by a horizontal line where two roof areas intersect, running the length of the area.
- (fortifications) The highest portion of the glacis proceeding from the salient angle of the covered way.
- A chain of mountains.
- A chain of hills.
- A long narrow elevation on an ocean bottom.
- (meteorology) A type of warm air that comes down on to land from mountains.