Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A crevice; a chink; a widened joint in rock.
- noun A ravine on the side of a hill.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chiefly UK A deep
cleft formed inlimestone surfaces due to watererosion ;providing aunique habitat forplants
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Origin unknown.
brtom commented on the word grike
He climbed over the sedge and eely oarweeds and sat on a stool of rock, resting his ashplant in a grike.
Joyce, Ulysses, 3
December 30, 2006
whichbe commented on the word grike
Crack or slit in rock or stone.
May 16, 2008
sionnach commented on the word grike
A typical feature of karst topography:
Grikes are cracks formed when an exposed area of limestone rock is eroded in a particular fashion. Small fissures occur in a limestone bed, which are worn away and widened by rainwater, which dissolves limestone. These fissures reach widths of tens of centimetres, leaving raised beds (clints) of uneroded limestone between extensive networks of cracks. This characteristic pattern is known as clint-and-grike topography.
Technically a grike can reach gigantic size, but the word is most often used to refer to smaller fissures, with larger ones being called bogaz or zanjones.
December 8, 2008