English Explanatory Dictionary

reef

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water.
  2. A large vein of auriferous quartz; hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.
noun
  1. A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed in a high wind.
  2. A reef knot.
verb
  1. To take in part of a sail in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.
  2. To pull or yank strongly, especially in relation to horse riding.
  3. To move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.
  4. To manipulate the lining of a person's pocket in order to steal the contents unnoticed.
adj
  1. Scabby; scurvy.
noun
  1. The itch; any eruptive skin disorder.
  2. Dandruff.
name
  1. A surname from German.

Pronunciation

rēf /ɹiːf/ en-us-reef.ogg en-au-reef.ogg

Word forms

reef reefs riff reefing reefed reefer more reef reefest most reef reif rief

Etymology

From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”). Dutch rif (“reef”), Low German riff, reff (“reef”), German Riff (“reef, ledge”) are also borrowed from Old Norse. Doublet of rib.

Derived words

backreef Barneys Reef barrier reef Barrys Reef close-reef coral reef Douglas Reef Douglass Reef Fiery Cross Reef forereef Forest Reefs fringing reef interreef Junee Reefs McMahons Reef Napoleon Reef Ocean Reef reefage reefal reef and beef reef crab reef fish reefgoby reef knoll reeflike reef line reefpoint reef point reef rash reef shark reef squid Reef Station reef-tackle Reefton reef triggerfish reefwalker reefwalking reefward reefwards reefwide reefy saddle back reef saddle reef Staffordshire Reef take a reef in Vuladdore Reef Welshmans Reef Woodsreef yellowtail reef fish reef-band reefless bag reef reef earing Spanish reef disreef reefable unreef unreefed
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary