Dimble

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A deep, wooded hollow or small valley lying between hills, sheltered and often watered by a stream
2. A narrow, sunken valley with steep sides, typically shaded by trees and found in rolling countryside
3. An archaic or dialect term for a secluded dell, a sheltered depression in the land often hidden among trees

Etymology: Dimble is a poetic word for a sheltered, wooded valley, and its likeliest original sense was something quite different: a hollow or cavity. It is probably the same word as "dimple", the small depression in a cheek or chin, so the image behind it is of a dip in the land rather than a valley as such. A landscape hollow of that kind, sunk below the surrounding ground and often shaded by trees, is what the term seems to have first picked out. Because the link to "dimple" is only probable, the exact path from "cavity" to "wooded valley" is not firmly documented. What is clear is that the word kept its sense of a hollow in the land while narrowing toward the wooded, enclosed character that distinguishes a dimble from an open dale.

Synonyms: dell, dingle, hollow, dale

Antonyms: hill