riverwiseadj.
/ˈrɪvəwʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈrɪvərˌwaɪz/ Having the skills and knowledge necessary for living, working, etc., on a river; understanding the ways of the river.
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1901 R. MacDonald God save King xv. 244 I sat me down upon the edge of a low wall and considered how I should pick up a friend that was river-wise.
1940 Sun (Baltimore) 22 Apr. 3/6 Riverwise city officials..expressed belief the inundation would prove more annoying than damaging.
2008 Times (Nexis) 13 May 23 Just as city children become streetwise, as river children we were riverwise.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
riverwiseadv.
/ˈrɪvəwʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈrɪvərwaɪz/ 1. By river; along a river.
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1837 Railway Mag. Feb. 141 The quantity of grain, provisions, merchandize, and goods of all kinds passing between these two places riverwise, amounts to upwards of 150,000 tons.
1909 Geogr. Jrnl. 40 463 For a thousand years, therefore, European traffic was chiefly by boat, either coastwise or riverwise.
1957 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 12 Jan. 11/3 Riverwise, this is about 12 miles from Hingham.
1997 T. Pynchon Mason & Dixon 511 River-wise up-country into a proliferation of Sects and Sects branching from Sects..ever away from the Sea..into an Interior unmapp'ed, a Realm of Doubt.
2. In the manner of a river; riverlike.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > [adverb]
riverlike1646
riverwise1861
1861 St. James's Mag. July 152 It chanced the miller, bent for market, took The lonely highway, sweeping river-wise Thro' surging harvest to a neighbouring town.
1881 J. Rhoades tr. Virgil Georgics i. 15 Here glides the huge Snake forth with sinuous coils 'Twixt the two Bears and round them river-wise.
1932 E. Dahlberg From Flushing to Calvary i. i. 4 [His head] was partially dipped in the silver dust which tipped his ears and hair as it flowed river-wise toward the white sheet.
1946 R. Graves Poems 1938–45 20 They carry Time looped so river-wise about their house There's no way in by history's road To name or number them.
2006 Pope & Islam in soc.culture.pakistan.religion (Usenet newsgroup) 5 Oct. Are we to consider that the deep..wisdom..flows down to us humble, riverwise?
3. In relation or with reference to a river or rivers.
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1927 J. Joyce Lett. (1966) III. 164 She has grown—river~wise—since the night you heard her under the sign of Ursa Minor.
1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets vii. 151 The French laid out the city, eleven squares riverwise and six squares deep.
1996 Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune (Nexis) 13 Feb. 5 a At present, the weather is holding, things are going down, creek-wise and river-wise.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1901adv.1837