Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An escarpment.
- transitive verb To cut or make into an escarpment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In fortification, the interior talus or slope of the ditch, next the place at the foot of the rampart; hence, any sharp, steep slope. See cut under
parapet . - noun Same as
escarpment , 2. - noun A shoulder-belt or scarf: the word is found only in the Middle English form sharpe, and in the heraldic use (def. 2): otherwise in the later form scarf. See
scarf . - noun In heraldry, a diminutive of the bend sinister, having one half its breadth.
- Milit., to cut down (a slope), so as to render it impassable.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Fort.) The slope of the ditch nearest the parapet; the escarp.
- noun A steep descent or declivity.
- noun (Her.) A band in the same position as the bend sinister, but only half as broad as the latter.
- transitive verb To cut down perpendicularly, or nearly so.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun the steep artificial slope below a
fort 'sparapet - noun geology a cliff at the edge of a
plateau orridge caused byerosion ; the steeper side of anescarpment - verb earth science, geography, transitive to
cut ,scrape ,erode , or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion
- noun a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The scarp was a tangle of gullies, boulders, and ravines.
Ice Hunt Rollins, James, 1961- 2003
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Halfway up the scarp was a dark horizontal line of bushes, something like a hedge.
David and the Phoenix Edward Ormondroyd
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When views to the west were lost in fog or hidden behind trees, I would often stand between the fields and wooded scarp slope looking south-east to the Clee Hills: a strangely self-contained land with its two mountains, wide open commons and isolated history.
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They called for the government to withdraw its controversial bill to scarp the mechanism of having Legislative Council by-elections.
Asia in Pictures 2011
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At one point Shannon moves to the base of our scarp and starts prancing around with her hands curled down, performing curvets with one leg.
Richard Bangs: Following Brad and Angelina to Namibia, Part II Richard Bangs 2011
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Taiwan is looking down on the lovely Liyu Reservoir and peering up at the terrifying landslide scarp at Jiufen Ershan.
Michael Turton: Taiwan: A Cycling Paradise (SLIDESHOW) Michael Turton 2011
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At one point Shannon moves to the base of our scarp and starts prancing around with her hands curled down, performing curvets with one leg.
Richard Bangs: Following Brad and Angelina to Namibia, Part II Richard Bangs 2011
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We know from looking at cross-cutting relationships between the fault scarp and these very small-diameter craters that the scarps can't be any more than about a billion years old.
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One of these ones that we knew about from the Apollo era was very close to the Apollo 17 landing site, and astronauts Cernan and Schmitt actually drove their roving vehicle up the scarp face.
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And actually, as they tried to drive straight up the scarp, they lost traction and had to actually start zigging and zagging to get up the scarp.
vendingmachine commented on the word scarp
"FLATOW: It's funny that from what I understand that one of these little plateaus was actually a place where some of the Apollo astronauts drove around in a little moon rover there.
Dr. WATTERS: That's exactly right. One of these ones that we knew about from the Apollo era was very close to the Apollo 17 landing site, and astronauts Cernan and Schmitt actually drove their roving vehicle up the scarp face. And actually, as they tried to drive straight up the scarp, they lost traction and had to actually start zigging and zagging to get up the scarp."
February 16, 2023