estuary
/ˈɛstjʊ(ə)ri
/noun (plural estuaries)
The tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream.The turtles spend most of their lives in mangrove-lined tidal estuaries, where rivers flow into the sea....
- It is a land of undulating hills and hollows, dips and drumlins, rivers, inlets, estuaries and lakes, dotted with homes and barns.
- The Hiberno-Norse towns were all located at trans-shipment points on the upper tidal estuaries of the larger Irish river systems.
Synonyms
(river) mouth, firth;
delta
archaic embouchure, debouchure, debouchment, discharge, disemboguement
Scottish archaic inver, water mouth
Derivatives
estuarial
- Although there were only a limited number of estuarial harbours capable of sheltering a large fleet, successful landings were frequent.
- But not every pier is worth diving; boat traffic, access, fishing lines, current, estuarial visibility and concrete constructions defy divers, however promising they might seem from above.
- You'd have to point to the staggering environmental cost of this development, the degradation of almost every aspect of life - air, water, estuarial life, forestry, grasslands.
estuarine
/ adjective ...- The bogs, fens, and estuarine marshes in the Lower Fraser Valley and Fraser Delta of British Columbia support large vegetable-growing operations.
- Ashtamudi Wetland, the extensive estuarine system that is the second largest in Kerala State, is of extraordinary importance, according to experts.
- Threats to this fish include overfishing, pollution of coastal waters, and loss of wetland and estuarine habitats.
Origin
Mid 16th century (denoting a tidal inlet of any size): from Latin aestuarium 'tidal part of a shore', from aestus 'tide'.
This was originally a tidal inlet of any size. The source is Latin aestuarium ‘tidal part of a shore’ from aestus ‘tide’. The term Estuary English was coined by David Rosewarne in 1984 for an accent which developed along the Thames Estuary from London English and which has rapidly become the dominant urban accent in southern England.