Other forms: rivers
A river is a long line of fresh water flowing across the land to the sea. Cross the river, the river bank, down the river.
It is fed by rain and tributaries, and where it meets the sea is the mouth, usually an estuary. Upstream and downstream are the two directions everything is described by. Rivers set most old boundaries and most old cities sit on one. Note sell somebody down the river, meaning to betray them, which comes from the American slave trade; and up the river, which is American slang for prison.
1nounriverA long line of fresh water flowing across the land to the sea.
“We had a picnic by the river and watched the boats.”
river is a watercourse.
Anglo-Norman riviere comes from Latin ripa, a bank — the word first meant the bank rather than the water. It is unrelated to Latin rivus, a stream, which gives rival: rivals were people sharing one stream.
Middle English
ryver
English, today
river
From Middle English ryver. From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman riviere, from la-eme rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (“stream”) (whence rival, derive). a doublet of riviera and rivière. Displaced native ēa.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA