different between crevasse vs notch

English

Etymology

From French crevasse. Doublet of crevice.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æs
• IPA^(key): /k???væs/

Noun

crevasse (plural crevasses)

1. A crack or fissure in a glacier or snowfield; a chasm.
2. (US) A breach in a canal or river bank.
3. (by extension) Any cleft or fissure.
   • 2010, Scott R. Riley, A Lost Hero Found (page 111)

     I moved my left hand to the small of her back, just above her belt-line and stroked the peach fuzz in her crevasse with my fingers.

4. (figuratively) A discontinuity or “gap” between the accounted variables and an observed outcome.
   • 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 105 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)

     […] he laments that he can find no physiological phenomenon answering to his subject’s winning a race, or losing it. Between his terminal output of energy and his victory or defeat there is a mysterious crevasse. Physiology is baffled.

Translations

Verb

crevasse (third-person singular simple present crevasses, present participle crevassing, simple past and past participle crevassed)

1. (intransitive) To form crevasses.
2. (transitive) To fissure with crevasses.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.vas/
• Rhymes: -as

Etymology 1

Old French crevace, crever +? -asse

Noun

crevasse f (plural crevasses)

1. crevasse

Etymology 2

Inflected forms

Verb

crevasse

1. first-person singular imperfect subjunctive of crever

Further reading

• “crevasse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• crevassa (dated)

Noun

crevasse f (plural crevasses)

1. (glaciology) crevasse (a crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field)

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1577, probably a rebracketing of an + otch, which noun stems from Middle French oche (“notch”), itself from the Old French verb ochier (“to notch”), of uncertain origin, but possibly related to French hocher and English nick (“small cut, notch”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /n?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /n?t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Noun

notch (plural notches)

1. A V-shaped cut.
   1. Such a cut, used for keeping a record.

   2. (slang) Woman.
2. An indentation.
3. A mountain pass; a defile.
4. (finance) A discontinuous change in a taxation schedule.
5. (informal) A level or degree.
   • 2014, Daniel Taylor, "World Cup 2014: Uruguay sink England as Suárez makes his mark," guardian.co.uk, 20 June:

     a better team might also have done more to expose Uruguay’s occasionally brittle defence, but England’s speed of thought and movement in their attacking positions was a good notch or two down from the Italy game.

6. (electronics) A portion of a mobile phone that overlaps the edge of the screen, used to house camera, sensors etc. while maximizing screen space.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

notch (third-person singular simple present notches, present participle notching, simple past and past participle notched)

1. (transitive) To cut a notch in (something).
2. (transitive) To record (a score or similar) by making notches on something.

3. (transitive) To join by means of notches.
4. (transitive, informal) To achieve (something); to add to one's score or record of successes.

   Synonym: notch up
5. (transitive) To fit (an arrow) to a bow by means of the notch cut at the end of the arrow; to nock.
   • 1885, John Niles Hubbard, An Account of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, Or Red Jacket, and His People, 1750-1830, page 31:

     Notching an arrow on the string of his tried and unerring bow, he raised his sinewy arms […]

   • 1913, Massachusetts Reformatory (Concord, Mass.), Our Paper, page 530:

     As Uncle Bunse threw his armful of stuff into the canoe, half a dozen other Indians crept forward, notching their arrows to shoot.

Derived terms

• notcher

Translations

References

• Partridge, Eric (2006): Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English

Cebuano

Etymology

From nota + ch.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: notch

Noun

notch

1. the penis