gulf
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: gŭlf
ipa: /ɡʌlf/
note: gulf-golf merger
ipa: /ɡɒlf/
homophone: golf (gulf-golf merger)
rhymes: -ʌlf
rhymes: -ɒlf
Forms: form: gulfs
form: gulph
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”).
Senses: examples: text: He then surveyed / Hell and the gulf between.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
text: ⁠For though my nature rarely yields
⁠To that vague fear implied in death;
⁠Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath,
The howlings from forgotten fields; […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62:
text: 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.
ref: 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 55:
glosses: A hollow place in the earth; an abyss; a deep chasm or basin.
examples: text: Witch's mummy, maw and gulf / Of the ravined salt sea shark,
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], line 23:
glosses: That which swallows; the gullet.
examples: text: [T]here is no such mine, / None; but a gulf of ruin, swallowing gold, not making.
ref: 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Sea Dreams”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 100:
glosses: That which swallows irretrievably; a whirlpool; a sucking eddy.
examples: text: the Gulf of Mexico
text: the Persian Gulf
topics: geography
natural-sciences
glosses: A portion of an ocean or sea extending into the land; a partially landlocked sea
topics: business
mining
glosses: A large deposit of ore in a lode.
examples: text: Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:26:
text: `Behold now, let the Dead and Living meet! Across the gulf of Time they still are one.'
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
glosses: A wide interval or gap; a separating space.
examples: text: England were graphically illustrating the huge gulf in class between the sides and it was no surprise when Lampard added the second just before the half hour. Steven Gerrard found his Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson and Lampard arrived in the area with perfect timing to glide a header beyond Namasco.
ref: 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
text: Piecing together Corbynomics is difficult, not least because it has evolved during Mr Corbyn’s time in charge of Labour. The gulf between the Labour leadership’s past positions and the milder proposals in the manifesto means that enormous uncertainty hangs over what a Corbyn-led government would do in office.
ref: 2018 May 17, “Corbynomics would change Britain—but not in the way most people think”, in The Economist:
text: Rich countries must sign a “historic pact” with the poor on the climate, or “we will be doomed”, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has warned, as a deepening gulf between the developed and developing world has put climate talks on the brink.
ref: 2022 November 4, Fiona Harvey, “UN chief warns ‘we will be doomed’ without historic climate pact”, in The Guardian:
text: The result is a widening gulf between people’s reality and what they are relentlessly told they actually believe in and care about.
ref: 2023 August 7, Nesrine Malik, “British people are kinder and less divided than politicians give us credit for”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A difference, especially a large difference, between groups.
examples: text: Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not enough to be plucked or good enough to be placed, are put into the "gulf," as it is popularly called (the Examiners' phrase is "Degrees allowed"), and have their degrees given to them but are not printed in the calendar, nor were they at this time allowed to try for the Classical Tripos.
ref: 1852, Charles Astor Bristed, Five Years in an English University, page 205:
qualifier: Oxbridge slang
glosses: The bottom part of a list of those awarded a degree, for those who have only just passed.
Synonyms: sense: difference
word: abyss
sense: difference
word: rift
Hyponyms: sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Corinthian Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Coronation Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Aden
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of America
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Amerika
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Antalya
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Bothnia
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of California
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Carpentaria
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Corinth
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Finland
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Gaeta
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Lepanto
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Mexico
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Oman
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Papua
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Saint Lawrence
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Salonica
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Siam
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Suez
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Gulf of Thailand
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Huon Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Persian Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Spencer Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Thermaean Gulf
sense: geography: names of gulfs
word: Thermaic Gulf
Derived terms: word: engulf
word: Gulf Coast
word: Gulf County
word: gulflike
word: Gulfport
word: Gulf Stream
word: Gulf War
word: gulfward
word: gulfwards
word: gulfweed
english: Sargassum
translation: Sargassum
word: gulfweed
word: gulfy
word: Newgulf
word: Roper Gulf