Rine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A narrow ditch, channel or drain cut into the ground to carry water away
2. An open channel in the earth, typically found in fields or along roadsides, that carries running water
3. A shallow trench or watercourse used for draining land, a term common in some regional English dialects

Etymology: "Rine" is an unusual English word with a few distinct origins, and the most useful thing to know is that it is a noun meaning a channel or course of water, which descends from Old English "ryne," meaning a course, run, or flow. That Old English word came from Proto-Germanic "runiz," meaning "course," and it is related to German "Ronne," a channel, and Icelandic "ryne," a flow or stream. The same root gave English "runnel," a small brook, so "rine" and "runnel" are close relatives. A second, separate line of descent runs through the verb "rine," which Middle English took from Old English "hrīnan," meaning to strip or touch. That verb reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European root, "krey-," meaning to strip or touch, but its path into English is distinct from the watercourse sense. A third origin is a variant of "rind," the hard outer skin of fruit or cheese, so the same spelling can point toward bark and peel as well as toward flowing water. Readers meeting the word in old texts should check which sense the context requires.

Synonyms: ditch, channel, gully