force

From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

to see the falls or force of the river Kent

1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire:

(countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.


spout

From Middle English spouten, from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten (> Dutch spuiten (“to spout”)), from Old Dutch *spūten, *spīuten, *spīwetten, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną. Compare Swedish spruta (“squirt, syringe”). See also spit, spew.

[…] the river rushes over the Auchinlilie Lin or Spout, a tremendous chataract^([sic]); after which it proceeds in a more quiet course, and is navigable to the village of Carron Shore.

1805, Robert Forsyth, The Beauties of Scotland: Containing a Clear and Full Account of the Agriculture, Commerce, Mines, and Manufactures; of the Population, Cities, Towns, Villages, &c. of Each County ..., page 388:

The Spout of Garnock is a wild and romantic waterfall upon that stream in the moors of Kilbirnie parish. The rock here is also porphyry. The porphyry upon the east side of the fall is much rent, and has fallen forward[…]

1839, Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Edinburgh, Prize-essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, page 434:

[…] a streamlet made a little spout over some stones to serve me for a water-tap.

1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage: Travels with a Donkey [in the Cévennes], page 219:

[…] you can follow a footpath from the fine Victorian Mallyan Spout Hotel to the national park's most famous waterfalls – the 80ft-high Mallyan Spout. When you get to the beck, turn left, and the waterfall is a couple of hundred yards along the bank; it can be wet underfoot[…]

2015 April 1, Jos Simon, The Rough Guide to Yorkshire, Rough Guides UK, →ISBN, page 245:

A stream of water that falls from higher to lower; a (typically thin) waterfall.


cataract

→ Cebuano: katarak

→ Marshallese: kōtrāāk

From Middle English cataract, cateract, cateracte, cataracta, from Latin cataracta (“waterfall, portcullis”), from Ancient Greek καταρράκτης (katarrháktēs), from καταράσσω (katarássō, “I pour down”), from κατα- (kata-, “down”) + ἀράσσω (arássō, “to strike, dash”). Its pathological sense probably came from its alternative sense in Latin, “portcullis”, through French through the notion of “obstruction”, in this case, of vision.

der

The cataracts on the Nile helped to compartment Upper Egypt.

A large waterfall; steep rapids in a river.


waterfall

/ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water + fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

വെള്ളച്ചാട്ടം

veḷḷaccāṭṭaṁ

A flow of water over the edge of a cliff.

A waterfall of mist came from the open freezer.

(figuratively) A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc.

A very long duration project […] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process.

(technical, computing, slang) Waterfall model


foss

From Icelandic or Norwegian foss, both from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of force (“waterfall”).

Another of his flock was spotted garrotted, one found twisted and drowned at the bottom of a foss and a third split cleanly from scut to teeth.

2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 101:


sault

In the sense "jump (made by a horse)", from Middle French sault, saut (and in the sense "waterfall", from that word's Colonial-era descendant, 17th-century French sault, corresponding to modern French saut (“jump”)), from Latin saltus.


falls

Niagara Falls

And climbed up through the woods, past the lake island where the white gazebo stood up to its knees in mist, up to where a falls fell melodiously into a deep dark pool.

1983 [1981], John Crowley, “The Art of Memory”, in Little, Big, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 475:


linn

From Middle English *linne, from Old English hlynn (“torrent”), though this and linn (“pool”) have been somewhat conflated.

What seek we here / Amid this waste where desolation scowls, / And the red torrent, brawling down the linn, / Sings everlasting discord?

1814, J. H. Craig [pseudonym; James Hogg], The Hunting of Badlewe: A Dramatic Tale, London: H[enry] Colburn; Edinburgh: G. Goldie, →OCLC, page 1; quoted in “The Hunting of Badlewe, a Dramatic Tale. 8vo. Edin. 1814. [From the Scottish Review.]”, in The Analectic Magazine, Containing Selections from Foreign Reviews and Magazines, together with Original Miscellaneous Compositions, volume V (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Published and sold by Moses Thomas, […], May 1815, →OCLC, pages 353–354:

"For it's o'er the bank, and it's o'er the linn,
"And it's up to the meadow ridge—"
"Ay," quo' the Stumpie hirpling in,

1844 December, “The Legend of Stumpie's Brae”, in The Dublin University Magazine, page 720:

And the roaring of the linn.

1866, John Harland, Lancashire Lyrics: Modern Songs & Ballads of the County Balatine, section 85:

Hear! now, Yon linn's melodious thunder!

1896, Lewis Proudlock, The Borderland Muse, page 51:

(UK dialectal, especially Scotland, Northern England, Wales) A (small or large) waterfall or cataract (torrent of water running over a rocky bed), or a ravine down which such a waterfall rushes.


cascade

From French cascade, from Italian cascata, from cascare (“to fall”), from Vulgar Latin *cāsicāre, derived from Latin cadere, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d-.

Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascade.

The silver brook […] pours the white cascade.

1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Spirit of Poetry:

In the first week of May, Sharp began his summit push.
He scaled the North Col, an ice cascade riddled with gaping crevasses, and established a camp at about 25,920 feet, where tents often must be pitched at 45-degree angles. But when he awoke on the third morning, it was snowing and extremely windy, and Sharp decided to abandon the attempt.

2006 July 23, Allen G. Breed, Binaj Gurubacharya, “A Climber's Highest Ambition Twice, Briton David Sharp Attempted To Conquer the World's Tallest Mountain. Then He Made His Third Try.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-08-16:

A waterfall or series of small waterfalls.

വെള്ളച്ചാട്ടം

veḷḷaccāṭṭaṁ

A cascade can be added to one or both sides of the band to work well with longer hair.

1998, Teresa Nelson, Creative Wedding Decorations You Can Make, →ISBN, page 10:

A hairpiece for women consisting of curled locks or a bun attached to a firm base, used to create the illusion of fuller hair.


cascade

en-verb

cascade (third-person singular simple present cascades, present participle cascading, simple past and past participle cascaded)

cascades (present singular third-person)
cascading (participle present)
cascaded (participle past)
cascaded (past)

Services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High are currently suspended, following a 30-metre breach of the Union Canal that occurred on August 12 after torrential rain and thunderstorms. The thousands of gallons of water that cascaded onto the railway line below washed away track, ballast and overhead line equipment, and undermined embankments along a 300-metre section of Scotland's busiest rail link.

2020 August 26, “Network News: Major flood damage severs key Edinburgh-Glasgow rail artery”, in Rail, page 21:

(intransitive) To fall as a waterfall or series of small waterfalls.

herabstürzen

to fall as a waterfall or series of small waterfalls

No matter how you tile or cascade the windows, each window's Minimize, Maximize, and Restore buttons work as usual.

2001, Greg M Perry, Sams teach yourself Microsoft Windows XP in 24 hours:

(transitive) To arrange in a stepped series like a waterfall.

hintereinanderschalten

to arrange in a stepped series like a waterfall


stickle

From Middle English *stikel, *stykyl (in compounds), from Old English sticel (“a prickle, sting, goad”), from Proto-Germanic *stiklaz, *stikilaz (“sting, stinger, peak, cup, goblet”), related to the verb *stikaną (“to stick”). Cognate with Dutch stekel, Icelandic stikill, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌺𐌻𐍃 (stikls) (whence Russian стекло́ (stekló, “glass”), Lithuanian stìklas).


stickle

en-adj

stickle (comparative more stickle, superlative most stickle)

more stickle (comparative)
most stickle (superlative)

From Middle English stikel, from Old English sticel, sticol (“high, lofty, steep, reaching great heights, inaccessible”), from Proto-Germanic *stikulaz, *stikkulaz (“high, steep”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stick; peak”).

der

(UK, dialect) High, as the water of a river; swollen; sweeping; rapid.


stickle

[P]atient Anglers ſtanding all the day / Neere to ſome ſhallovv ſtickle or deepe bay.

1616, William Browne, “The Fourth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The Second Booke, London: […] Iohn Haviland, published 1625, →OCLC, page 143:


punch bowl waterfall

en-noun

punch bowl waterfall (plural punch bowl waterfalls)

A waterfall formed when a stream is forced through a constricted channel and descends outward into a plunge basin forming a plunge pool.


Niagara Falls

Niagara + Falls (waterfall)
* The cities are named after the waterfalls they are located next to.

Coordinate term: Goat Island

A waterfall in the Niagara river, Niagara region, on the international border between Canada and United States, in both Ontario and New York state; Massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River.

شلالات نياجارا

šalālāt nīāǧārā

شلالات نياغارا

šalālāt nīāġārā


waterfalling

If the film folds over on itself as a result of turbulent flow or "waterfalling," the effects can be particularly damaging.

2003, George E. Totten, D. Scott MacKenzie, Handbook of Aluminum: Physical metallurgy and processes:

If the casting is poorly designed, waterfalling will result.

2009, ASM International, Casting design and performance:

(engineering) Turbulent flow, or the damage caused by such turbulence (such as spalling).

(engineering) Applying a waterfall model of design and project management to any particular project or phase thereof (in contrast with applying an agile model).

(outdoor sports) Hiking to and climbing up active waterfalls.


plunge waterfall

plunge waterfall (plural plunge waterfalls)

punch bowl waterfall
punch bowl waterfall


byfall

The ceremonies are as it were an income or a byfall.

A falling about; an incidental accessory or accretion; a happenstance; occurrence; instance.

There was the small byfall to which I have referred; there was the weir proper; there was a broadish lasher, the whole between them making a very fair description of tumbling bay, flanked by strong, individual streams.

A fall of water, usually lesser in size, near to or beside a larger, more predominant waterfall.


plunge pool

By about 450,000 years ago melting glaciers had created a gigantic lake to the north of the chalk ridge, which filled until water began to pour over in a series of cascades so immense that they created ʻplunge poolsʼ up to 140 metres deep at their bases.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 205:

A pool that is small in diameter, but deep, usually resulting from erosion by a natural force such as a waterfall or rapids.


tidefall

A waterfall that empties directly into the sea; a coastal waterfall

The transition of tides to or from high tide and low tide


Iguazu

A river in Brazil and Argentina, that starts in the Brazilian mountains in Serra do Mar and flows into the Paraná in Brazil.


Great Falls

A city, the county seat of Cascade County, Montana.


catadupe

From French catadupe, from Latin Catadūpa, name of the first cataract of the Nile, from Ancient Greek Κατάδουποι (Katádoupoi); see Catadupe for more.

Yet was not this all; for hither to the north boiled the majestic cataract in unimaginable grandiloquence, and thither to the south sparkled the gentle catadupe in serene and incandescent tranquillity, whilst far and near the halcyon brooklet flowed between!

1938, Mark Twain (Bernard DeVoto, ed.), Letters from the Earth, page 110:

It happens oftentimes that in the church of God, where the waters of Siloam should run with silence, there is nothing heard but the tempestuous roaring of some gulf or catadupe.

1978, Daniel Tuvill, John L. Lievsay, Essays Politic and Moral and Essays Moral and Theological, →ISBN, page 129:

It sounds just like storing up more catadupes of undigested data.

2001 Autumn, Andrew Ehrenberg, “Marketing: Romantic or realist”, in Marketing Research, volume 13, number 3:


spray bow

From spray + bow, by analogy with rainbow.

M. Kohl gives us some graphic descriptions, especially of the scene behind the Horse-shoe Fall, and of a lunar spray-bow on the American, for which we must refer to his book.

1861 January, anonymous author, The Westminster Review, Canada, page 34:

Now that level place, or bench-table went up to the very gushing and green bow of the water, so Ralph took Ursula's hand and led her along, she going a little after him, till he was close to the Well, and stood amidst the spray-bow thereof, so that he looked verily like one of the painted angels on the choir wall of St. Laurence of Upmeads.

1896, William Morris, The Well at the World's End: A Tale, Volume 2, page 94:

It would need a long essay in optics, I imagine, to explain why the spray-bow was very blue and the cloud-bow quite without this colour ; for rainbows differ more in their attributes than most observers recognise.

1935, Sir William Beach Thomas, Village England, page 95:

I sometimes amuse myself by making spray bows with a plant spray.

2002, John Naylor, Out of the Blue: A 24-Hour Skywatcher's Guide, page 106:

(meteorology) A rainbow formed from water spray, especially that which emanates from a waterfall.


forcefall

From Middle English *forsfal, from Old Norse forsfall (“waterfall, torrent”), equivalent to force (“waterfall”) + fall. Compare Icelandic fossfall (“waterfall, torrent”).

cog

For down from His heights, marking the descent by "forcefalls" as a river marks declivities in its bed by cataracts, comes this supreme power; […]

1924, Frederick Spencer Oliver, A Dweller on Two Planets, page 64:

Tops of sweet birch snap strong and stiff like bones busting against bats or the sides of heads slapping concrete through the forcefall that takes a score more limbs before piercing top soil like carelessly falling arrows.

1990, Gladys Goring Johnson, December, volume 33, page 82:

(rare, literal or figurative) A waterfall or cascading torrent.


foambow

A kind of rainbow or fogbow seen as sunlight passes through the airborne water droplets of a waterfall.


room of doom

(informal) A cave behind a waterfall that is filled with the crashing water, a potential hazard for canoes or kayaks.


mistfall

The mistfall was heavier as the boat entered the domain of the great falls at Niagara.

2007, Robert Sneider, The Falls II: In the Crossfire of Mist and Madness:

Water started to come down from here and there on the high bank, streamlets big as a finger, mere dripdrops, mistfalls that evaporated halfway to the surface of the river – these can't be rainfed, not here – […]

2017, Joanna Russ, We Who Are About To...:

(rare) A waterfall that falls in the form of fine mist.


Lenard effect

Named after Philipp Lenard who proposed the idea in 1892.

(physics) The separation of electric charges (and ionization) accompanying the aerodynamic breakup of water droplets.


waterfallish

Paddling Your Way Out of a Waterfall. If you're stuck with a serial lifeycle, here's how to make it less waterfallish and more flexible so you can adapt to reality:[…]

2007 June 7, Johanna Rothman, Manage It!: Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management, Pragmatic Bookshelf, →ISBN:

[...] waterfallish sound which Charity afterwards remembered as one of the distinctive voices of Waterside. When after more meanderings the stream reached the next village, it had increased sufficiently in depth and width[…]

2022 August 16, Flora Jane Thompson, Still Glides the Stream, DigiCat: