avalanche

English

Wikipedia

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Etymology

Swiss French, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval ‘downhill’ and standard lavençhe, from Proto-Romance *labanka (cf. Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), alteration of Late Latin labina ‘landslide’ (cf. Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansch lavina), from Latin labi ‘to slip, slide’.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈævəlɑːnʃ/, SAMPA: /'{v@lA:nS/
• (US) IPA: /ˈævəlæntʃ/, SAMPA: /'{v@l{ntS/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

avalanche (plural avalanches)

1. A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.
2. A fall of earth, rocks, etc., similar to that of an avalanche of snow or ice.
3. A sudden, great, or irresistible descent or influx of anything.
4. Anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity (like a barrage, blitz, etc).

Translations

large sliding mass of snow and ice

Aragonese: lurte, lit Asturian: ádene, ádiga Basque: elurrolde, elur-jausia Bosnian: lavina (bs) f. Bulgarian: лавина (bg) Catalan: allau Chinese: Mandarin: 雪崩 (zh) (xuěbēng) Croatian: snježna lavina Czech: lavina (cs) f. Danish: lavine (da) Dutch: lawine (nl) f. Esperanto: lavango (eo) Estonian: laviin Finnish: lumivyöry (fi) French: avalanche (fr) f. Galician: avalancha German: Lawine (de) f. Greek: χιονοστιβάδα (el) (chionostiváda) f. Hungarian: lavina (hu) Icelandic: snjóflóð (is) Ido: avalancho (io) Italian: valanga (it) f., slavina (it) f.

Japanese: 雪崩 (ja) (なだれ, nadare) Korean: 눈사태 (ko) (nunsatae) (沙汰 (ko)) Kurdish: aşît (ku) f. Latvian: lavīna Luxembourgish: Lawin (lb) f. Malay: salji runtuh (ms) Maori: horonga (mi) Norwegian: lavine (no), snøras (no), snøskred (no) n. Occitan: avalanca Polish: lawina (pl) f. Portuguese: avalanche (pt) f. Romanian: avalanșă (ro) Russian: лавина (ru) (lavína) f. Scottish Gaelic: maoim-sneachda (gd) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: лавина f. Roman: usov m., lavina f. Slovak: lavína Slovene: plaz (sl) m. Spanish: alud (es) m., avalancha (es) f. Swedish: lavin (sv) c., snöskred (sv) n. Turkish: çığ (tr) Welsh: eirlithrad (cy) m.

fall of earth, rocks, etc.

Bosnian: lavina (bs) f. Bulgarian: свлачище (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 山崩 (zh) (shānbēng) Dutch: lawine (nl) f. Finnish: maanvyöry (fi) Greek: κατολίσθηση (el) (katolísthisi) f. Italian: valanga (it) f.

Japanese: 山崩れ (ja) (やまくずれ, yamakuzure) Kurdish: aşît f., هه‌ره‌س Norwegian: skred (no) n., ras (no) n. Russian: лавина (ru) (lavína) f., обвал (ru) (obvál) m. Serbian: Cyrillic: лавина f. Roman: usov m., lavina f. Swedish: jordskred (sv) n., skred (sv) n., ras (sv) n.

sudden descent or influx

Finnish: vyöry (fi) Greek: χιονοστιβάδα (el) (chionostiváda) f. Italian: valanga (it) f.

Kurdish: aşît (ku) f. Russian: обвал (ru) (obvál) m. Swedish: ras (sv) n.

Verb

avalanche (third-person singular simple present avalanches, present participle avalanching, simple past and past participle avalanched)

1. (intransitive) To descend like an avalanche.
2. (transitive) To come down upon; to overwhelm.

   The shelf broke and the boxes avalanched the workers.

Translations

to come down upon

Esperanto: lavangi (eo) Finnish: vyöryä (fi)

Swedish: falla (sv), rasa ner (sv)

External links

• avalanche in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• avalanche in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

avalanche f. (plural avalanches)

1. avalanche

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Portuguese

Wikipedia ^pt

Noun

avalanche f. (plural avalanches)

1. avalanche

Synonyms

• avalancha