riverlikeadj.adv.

1585 A. Golding tr. P. Mela Worke of Cosmographer 71 The Rheine..is dispearsed asunder againe within a lyttle of the Sea, Howbeit yet Riuer-lyke styll on the left hand.

1612 I. M. tr. Most Famous Hist. Meruine i. viii. 51 Brohars, through the riuerlike effusion of his blood, was..exceedingly weakned.

1704 J. Toland Lett. Serena v. 192 The incessant river-like Flowing and Transpiration of Matter every moment from the Bodys of Men.

1799 J. Scott tr. Ināyat Allāh Bahar-Danush I. iv. 52 Having received from her river-like liberality valuable jewels and a vast sum of money, [he] delivered her the portrait.

1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 178 Where the..brook winds away..until it spread into a river-like dignity.

1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 170 If I could ever think to wrong A love so riverlike, deep, pure, and long.

1878 H. M. Stanley Through Dark Continent I. xvi. 425 These watercourses, though called rivers, show no running stream, but only river-like marshes.

1908 E. Channing Hist. U.S. (1913) II. xix. 573 For a quarter of a century the French had occupied a post at Crown Point, where Lake Champlain narrows into riverlike proportions.

1941 F. F. Van de Water Reluctant Republic ii. xi. 185 The long, crooked handle of lower Champlain becomes a two-tined fork. The eastern and lesser water prong is the lake's riverlike upper reach.

1984 D. Posner Antoine Watteau i. i. 34 The Retour—with its long unbroken path and slow, river-like current of men—evoking the feel of the tired march home.

2004 D. Morrison in N. Dunnett & J. Hitchmough Dynamic Landscape v. 159 Translated into a designed landscape, the river-like space may be interpreted as a pathway or zone of low-growing or periodically mown vegetation.

1646 J. Benbrigge Vsvra Accommodata 18 Thankfulnesse to God, River-like, returnes unto the Ocean of his glory, those streames of blessings [etc.].

1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. xii. 256 I have found her chary in showing her feelings; but when they rush out, river-like, and pass full and powerful before you,..you gaze, wonder, [etc.].

1868 R. Browning Ring & Bk. I. iii. 166 Prosperity rolled river-like.

a1914 J. Muir Steep Trails (1918) v. 98 The long, majestic glaciers of Alaska that riverlike go winding down the valleys through the forests to the sea.

1941 P. Reniers Springs of Virginia v. 67 Cholera..had been several years on the way from Asia, flowing river-like westward across Russia and Europe.

1984 Cruise Trav. Aug. 48/3 A strange looking grayish-white mass [sc. the glacier],..hanging over the rim of a high peak,..narrowing somewhat as it clung river-like to the slopes.

2007 D. Baer When we All go Home iii. 81 The Lord extends, river-like, peace to her.