Definitions

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

  • noun A small, secluded valley.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A narrow valley; a dale; a depression or hollow between hills.
  • noun Synonyms Ravine, Gorge, etc. See valley.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A secluded and narrow valley; a dale; a depression between hills.

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

  • noun A secluded and narrow valley; a dale; a depression between hills.

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

  • noun a narrow secluded valley (in the mountains)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic gleann, from Old Irish glenn.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scottish Gaelic gleann ("mountain valley").

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Examples

  • Lou Dobbs will probably join glen beck at fox. .where he belongs. scott oneill

    John King to replace Lou Dobbs 2009

  • Large wooden columns define both Surrey and Arena, and the inclined glass wall that links the Chan to its forest glen is also repurposed in Thom's Washington design.

    Profile of Vancouver architect Bing Thom Philip Kennicott 2010

  • The name glen plaid was derived from the valley of Glen Urquhart in Inverness-shire, Scotland.

    Archive 2007-02-01 Marina Geigert 2007

  • And hence they call the glen "The Cuagh Oir," The Glen of the Cup of Gold.

    Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police; a tale of the Macleod trail Ralph Connor 1898

  • The glen was a peaceful place to live and free from most of the raiding and feuding that plagued the Highlands, thanks to being situated in a remote and naturally defensive valley, but it still had its dangers.

    My Devilish Scotsman Jen Holling 2005

  • At a little distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of birch; the hills were high and heathy, but without any variety of surface; so that the whole view was wild and desolate rather than grand and solitary.

    Waverley 2004

  • The glen which was to afford us access to it, we named Glenfinlass: it might, perhaps, be properly termed the glen of many windings, as it was formed of several detached lofty hills; between each of which deep ravines were formed, communicating in times of rain their waters to this main one.

    Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales 2003

  • I turned aside, and there below me in the glen was the lonesome grey church, the porch where I had waited for the coming of the woman in white, the hills encircling the quiet burial-ground, the brook bubbling cold over its stony bed.

    The Woman in White 2003

  • After the traumas and shortages of the war years the glen is a haven of peace, and a steady supply of milk, eggs, fish, mutton and venison goes a long way to make up for threadbare carpets and unmended pipes and the eccentricities of the plumbing.

    Rose cottage Stewart, Mary, 1916- 1997

  • After the traumas and shortages of the war years the glen is a haven of peace, and a steady supply of milk, eggs, fish, mutton and venison goes a long way to make up for threadbare carpets and unmended pipes and the eccentricities of the plumbing.

    Rose cottage Stewart, Mary, 1916- 1997

Comments

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  • glén

    Slovene: silt, slime

    December 17, 2008

  • My savage journey, curious, I pursue,

    Till fam'd Breadalbane opens to my view. -

    The meeting cliffs each deep-sunk glen divides,

    The woods wild scatter'd, clothe their ample sides;

    Th' outstretching lake, imbosomed 'mong the hills,

    The eye with wonder and amazement fills;

    The Tay meand'ring sweet in infant pride,

    The palace rising on his verdant side,

    The lawns wood-fring'd in Nature's native taste,

    The hillocks dropt in Nature's careless haste,

    The arches striding o'er the new-born stream,

    The village glittering in the noontide beam-

    - Robert Burns, 'Verses Written With A Pencil Over the Chimney-piece in the Parlour of the Inn at Kenmore, Taymouth'.

    January 28, 2009

  • Also called a hollow or holler!

    April 30, 2009