gulf
/ɡʌlf/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.28 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
That which swallows irretrievably; a whirlpool; a sucking eddy.
noun
A wide interval or gap; a separating space.
noun
A difference, especially a large difference, between groups.
Example Sentences
- "He then surveyed / Hell and the gulf between."
- "Of course, there was no arguing against this, but one thing was clear, we could not attempt that leap in the dark; the only thing to do was to wait for the ray of light which pierced through the gulf at sunset."
- "For though my nature rarely yields To that vague fear implied in death; Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath, The howlings from forgotten fields; […]"
- "It is told that that traveller came at last to the utter End and there was a mighty gulf, and in the darkness at the bottom of the gulf one small god crept, no bigger than a hare, whose voice came crying in the cold: “I know not.” And beyond the gulf was nought, only the small god crying."
- "Witch's mummy, maw and gulf / Of the ravined salt sea shark,"
- "[T]here is no such mine, / None; but a gulf of ruin, swallowing gold, not making."
Etymology
From Middle English gulf, goulf, golf, from Old French golf, from Italian golfo, from Late Latin colfos, from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, gulf”), of obscure origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve, arch”).