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meander

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: meänder and Meander

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros) – a river in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) known for its winding course (modern Turkish Menderes).

Pronunciation

Noun

meander (plural meanders)

  1. (often plural) One of the turns of a winding, crooked, or involved course.
    the meanders of an old river, or of the veins and arteries in the body
  2. (geography) One of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse
    • 1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:
      See, how the streams advancing to the main, / Through crooked channels draw their crystal train! / While lingering thus they in meanders glide, / They scatter verdant life on either side.
  3. A tortuous or winding journey.
    • 2014 August 1, Enders A. Robinson, Dean Clark, Remote Sensing in Action: The Curious Case of Sherlock Holmes and Albert Einstein, SEG Books, →ISBN, page 30:
      That journey in the spring of 1891 tracked historical underpinnings of the edifice that Einstein built. Our story will be an extremely interesting mental meander to trace the evolution some of the aspects of relativity theory from the beginning.
  4. Synonym of Greek key, a decorative border; fretwork.
    • 1912, Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, page 227:
      The scales are conceived of as meander fretwork; but I do not know whether, for this reason, this fish is associated with thunder.
    • 2008, Todd Merrill, James Mont: The King Cole Penthouse, Lulu.com, →ISBN:
      A chair rail adorned with Chinese fretwork molding was a specific meander that repeated throughout the home. Moldings shaped as cartouches lined each wall, […]
  5. (mathematics) A self-avoiding closed curve which intersects a line a number of times.
  6. (possibly obsolete) A path on which the directions, distances, and elevations are noted, as a part of a land survey.
    • 1894, United States Bureau of Land Management, Manual of Surveying Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States and Private Land Claims, page 44:
      Markings on Meander Corners. On all meander corners, the letters “M. C.” ( for meander corner) will be cut into the side facing the stream or lake to be meandered. On post or tree meander corners, within township exteriors […]
    • 1911, United States House Committee on Public Lands, Providing for Appeals from Decisions of the Interior Department in Land Matters: Hearing Held Before the Committee on the Public Lands of the House Representatives, June 22, 1910, on H.R. 27071, "To Provide for Appeals from Decisions of the Secretary of the Interior to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and for Other Purposes.", page 56:
      And as to the lands that were within the national meander boundaries, that description was based upon a state survey?
  7. (architecture) A decorative border consisting of a repeated linear motif, particularly of intersecting perpendicular lines.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

meander (third-person singular simple present meanders, present participle meandering, simple past and past participle meandered)

  1. (intransitive) To wind or turn in a course or passage
    Synonyms: wind, worm, wander
    The stream meandered through the valley.
    • 1881, Edwin Lester Arnold, On the Indian Hills‎:
      Instead of a rivulet meandering downwards, there was a foaming brown torrent racing over the ledge, carrying down great loose stones with it and falling with a loud roar far down into the unseen chasm below.
    • 2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 51:
      I'd forgotten how scenic parts of the line are - the railway crosses a host of streams while meandering through meadows or skirting woodland.
  2. (intransitive) To be intricate.
    His speech meandered through various topics.
  3. (transitive) To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

Further reading

Anagrams

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin maeander, Maeander, from Ancient Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros).

Pronunciation

Noun

meander m (plural meanders, diminutive meandertje n)

  1. meander

Derived terms

Further reading

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros).

Noun

meander m (definite singular meanderen, indefinite plural meandere or meandre or meandrer, definite plural meanderne or meandrene)

  1. a meander (in a river)

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros).

Noun

meander m (definite singular meanderen, indefinite plural meandrar, definite plural meandrane)

  1. a meander (in a river)

Derived terms

References

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
Thumb
meander sense 1
Thumb
meander sense 2

Etymology

Borrowed from German Mäander.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɛˈan.dɛr/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -andɛr
  • Syllabification: me‧an‧der

Noun

meander m inan (related adjective meandrowy)

  2. meander (one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse)
    Synonym: zakole
  4. meander, meandros (decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif)

Declension

Declension of meander
More information singular, plural ...

Derived terms

adjectives
  • meandrowaty
  • meandryczny
verbs
adverbs
  • meandrycznie
nouns
  • meandryczność

Further reading

  • meander in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • meander in Polish dictionaries at PWN
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Slovak

Pronunciation

Noun

meander m inan (genitive singular meandra, nominative plural meandre, genitive plural meandrov, declension pattern of stroj)

  1. meander (one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse)

References

  • “meander”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025
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Swedish

Etymology

From Latin Maeander, from Ancient Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros).

Noun

meander c

  1. a meander (in a river)

Declension

More information nominative, genitive ...

References

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