Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A river of southwest Asia rising in eastern Turkey and flowing about 1,850 km (1,150 mi) southeast through Iraq to the Euphrates River. It was a major transportation route in ancient times.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of Felidæ, or section of Felis, based on the tiger, as T. regalis.
  • noun An obsolete constellation where Vulpecula now is, first found in the planisphere of Bartsch, 1624, and recognized for more than a century following.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A river in Southwest Asia flowing 1,150 miles east-southeast from Turkey through Iraq. It forms the eastern edge of classical Mesopotamia. It unites with the Euphrates River to form the Shatt-al-Arab before flowing into the Persian Gulf.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an Asian river; a tributary of the Euphrates River

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Τίγρις (Tigris), from Old Persian 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎠 (Tigrā), from Elamite ti-ig-ra, from Sumerian idigna, literally ‘fast as an arrow’, because the Tigris is rough and fast flowing. Compare Middle Persian Arvand ‘Tigris’, literally ‘swift’ (cf. Avestan -aurvant).

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Examples

  • _Aquilone_ -- North, _Antitaurus Antitaurus psis mo_ (probably meant for Thospitis = Lake Van, Arm. Dgov Vanai, Tospoi, and the Mountain range to the South); _Gordis mo_ (Mountains of Gordyaea), the birth place of the Tigris; _Oriente_ -- East; _Tigris_, and then, to the left, _Eufrates_.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Volume 2 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • _Aquilone_ -- North, _Antitaurus Antitaurus psis mo_ (probably meant for Thospitis = Lake Van, Arm. Dgov Vanai, Tospoi, and the Mountain range to the South); _Gordis mo_ (Mountains of Gordyaea), the birth place of the Tigris; _Oriente_ -- East; _Tigris_, and then, to the left, _Eufrates_.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • AMD's successor to Tigris is code-named Danube, which is set for release in 2010.

    Top Stories - Google News 2008

  • The hilly country beyond the Tigris is occupied by the pastoral tribes of the Curds; 46 a people hardy, strong, savage impatient of the yoke, addicted to rapine, and tenacious of the government of their national chiefs.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • To the east of the Tigris is another less considerable river, named also the Chaboras, which D’Anville calls the Centrites,

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • The Euphrates rises in the mountains of Armenia and flows south to the Persian Gulf roughly parallel to the Tigris, which is many miles to the east.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • The Euphrates rises in the mountains of Armenia and flows south to the Persian Gulf roughly parallel to the Tigris, which is many miles to the east.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • The Euphrates rises in the mountains of Armenia and flows south to the Persian Gulf roughly parallel to the Tigris, which is many miles to the east.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • Egyptian is cut up into channels, and the largest of the channels is navigable for ships and runs in the direction of the sunrising in winter from the Euphrates to another river, namely the Tigris, along the bank of which lay the city of Nineveh.

    The History of Herodotus Herodotus 2003

  • COOPER: Yes, according to a brand new Reuters report the palm trees at the edge of the river Tigris, which is what we have been looking at, have been set ablaze in the fighting.

    CNN Transcript Apr 7, 2003 2003

Comments

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  • Thor Heyerdahl's reed boat, Tigris, was intended to demonstrate that trade and migration might have linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley Civilization in what is now modern-day Pakistan. However, Heyerdahl, after the craft was at sea for 5 months, burned the boat on April 3, 1978 at Djibouti in protest of the wars being prosecuted around the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.

    June 18, 2010