Hanging Valley Definition & Meaning

American

British

Scientific

Etymology

Examples

hanging valley American

noun

1. a valley, the lower end of which opens high above a shore, usually caused by the rapid erosion of a cliff.

2. a tributary valley whose mouth is set above the floor of the main valley, usually as a result of differences in glacial erosion.

hanging valley British

noun

1. geography a tributary valley entering a main valley at a much higher level because of overdeepening of the main valley, esp by glacial erosion

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 hanging valley Scientific / hăng′ĭng /

1. A side valley that enters a main valley at an elevation high above the main valley floor. Hanging valleys are typically formed when the main valley has been widened and deepened by glacial erosion, leaving the side valley cut off abruptly from the main valley below. The steep drop from the hanging valley to the main valley floor usually creates cascading waterfalls.

Etymology

Origin of hanging valley

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the front courtyard, they kept a 10-foot-tall Torch aloe, climbing rose and Eureka lemon tree and added a fountain, manzanita, Coyote Brush and further mallows that flower year-round — Hanging Valley, Apricot and Louis Hamilton Apricot.

From Los Angeles Times

We crossed the high, hanging valley of Miage, its soft belly mowed at the leisure of belled brown cattle; we made our way across the moonscape of barren moors below the Col du Bonhomme, its steep five-hour ascent across treeless expanses stippled with gentian, aster and flax; we approached from above the isolated mountain inns of Refuge des Mottets and Rifugio Elisabetta, their roofs of wet-slicked rough stone.

From New York Times

I was headed down the Valley Valley trail, a specific run in Hanging Valley, when I clicked out of one binding.

From Washington Times

“We had to stay a bit longer in a beautiful and legendary hanging valley and deal with a bit of uncertainty. Now … we understand just how lucky we’ve been and we are sad beyond words to learn how unlucky others have been.”

From Los Angeles Times

As students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their results, here are some favourite excuses collected from the hanging valley of collective memory over the years.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.