Definitions

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

  • A river of southwest Asia flowing about 2,800 km (1,740 mi) from central Turkey through Syria and into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris River to form the Shatt al Arab. Its waters were a major source of irrigation for the flourishing civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia.

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

  • proper noun an Asia river flowing into the Persian Gulf.

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

  • proper noun The river in the Middle East, 2780 kilometers in length, flowing southwest from Turkey, then southeast, and uniting with the Tigris before entering the Persian Gulf. It forms the Western edge of classical Mesopotamia.

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

  • noun a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Εὐφράτης (Euphrátēs), from Old Persian 𐎢𐎳𐎼𐎠𐎬𐎢 (Ufrātu), from Elamite ú-ip-ra-tu-iš. Related is Akkadian purattu (cf. Classical Syriac ܦܪܬ (P(ə)rāṯ)).

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Examples

  • Others trace the name of a Hebrew root-word signifying "to pass over," and hence regard it as meaning "the man who passed over," viz., the Euphrates; or to the Hebrew word meaning "the region" or "country beyond," viz., the land of Chaldea.

    Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897

  • The Euphrates is specified as being near Babylon, the Jews future place of exile. hole -- typical of the prisons in which the Jews were to be confined. the rock -- some well-known rock.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • Before him was a noble river; he beheld the Euphrates from the very spot he had first viewed it in his pilgrimage.

    Chapter 14 - Part X 1822

  • For instance, once the current incursion provisionally ends, the Israeli army shaves off a whole mountain (or two) from the Anti-Lebanon and transplant it to the Negev Desert; or after yet another Greco-Turkish skirmish has concluded, a Greek island gets yanked off from the Aegean and placed atop a pedestal in front of Atatürk's mausoleum; or a segment of the Tigris and the Euphrates is flown off on a C-130 halfway around the world to Nebraska, where landscape architects, in the spirit of Albert Speer and Leni Riefenstahl, have prepared grand parades and mass celebrations as lavish as any organized by Kim Jong-il for the arrival and installation.

    Archive 2006-07-01 2006

  • For instance, once the current incursion provisionally ends, the Israeli army shaves off a whole mountain (or two) from the Anti-Lebanon and transplant it to the Negev Desert; or after yet another Greco-Turkish skirmish has concluded, a Greek island gets yanked off from the Aegean and placed atop a pedestal in front of Atatürk's mausoleum; or a segment of the Tigris and the Euphrates is flown off on a C-130 halfway around the world to Nebraska, where landscape architects, in the spirit of Albert Speer and Leni Riefenstahl, have prepared grand parades and mass celebrations as lavish as any organized by Kim Jong-il for the arrival and installation.

    Huangyangtan, or: Tactical geoannexation, Part II 2006

  • Hugging the Euphrates will be a little warmer, I imagine.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • Thence he marched on three stages — fifteen parasangs — to the river Euphrates, which is nearly half a mile broad.

    Anabasis 2007

  • Hugging the Euphrates will be a little warmer, I imagine.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • It hath most holesome and sweete waters about it: for the veines of the said waters seeme to spring and flow from the mighty riuer of Euphrates, which is but a dayes iourney from the saide city.

    The Journal of Friar Odoric 2004

  • The fourth river is clept Euphrates, that is to say, well-bearing; for there grow many goods upon that river, as corns, fruits and other goods enough plenty.

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

Comments

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  • I love this word. However, it always makes me think of a town, Ephrata (pronounced kind of like EFF-erta, though you hardly hear the R at all), near my hometown. And then I always think of this girl at an indoor-guard competition at some huge high school miles and miles away from both Ephrata and my hometown, who misread the sign on the classroom door that was meant for the kids from Ephrata H.S., and said aloud, "Eupharta."

    March 10, 2011

  • I had an Indonesian friend called Efrata. Which was totally not good because Indonesian as a language doesn't have 'native' words with letter or sound /f/. So it came out as approximated Eprata. I suppose that was workable but it must be embarrassing to go through life unable to say your own name properly.

    March 11, 2011