meander
pronunciation
How to pronounce meander in British English:
UK [miˈændə(r)]
How to pronounce meander in American English:
US [miˈændər]
-
- Noun:
- a curve in a stream
-
- Verb:
- to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
Word Origin
- meander
- meander: [16] The word meander comes from the name of an actual river, the Maeander (now known as the Büyük Menderes), which flows through Turkey into the Aegean sea. It was famous in ancient times for its winding course, and so Greek maíandros came to be used as a generic term for ‘winding course’. The word passed into English via Latin maeander, and was turned into a verb in the 17th century.
- meander (n.)
- 1570s, "confusion, intricacies," from Latin meander "a winding course," from Greek Maiandros, name of a river in Caria noted for its winding course (the Greeks used the name figuratively for winding patterns). In reference to river courses, in English, from 1590s. Adjectival forms are meandrine (1846); meandrous (1650s).
- meander (v.)
- "flow in a winding course" (of rivers), 1610s, from meander (n.). Of a person, "to wander aimlessly" (1831), originally of persons traveling on a river (1821), perhaps influenced by confusion with maunder [OED]. Related: Meandered; meandering.
Example
- 1. Horseshoe bend is a looping meander entrenched into the bedrock .
- 2. New connections , new pathways , and sharp turns are being made as we meander our way through the book , but also away from it .
- 3. We will begin where civilisation began meander through the middle ages race through the renaissance and in doing so discover where our alphabet originated how and why it evolved and why for example an a looks well like an a.