Definitions

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

  • noun A road that winds along the side of a steep coast or cliff.

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

  • noun A road built on a ledge (cliff), especially along water (a river, sea, etc).

Etymologies

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

[Short for French route en corniche : route, road + en, on + corniche, rock ledge, cornice (from Italian cornice; see cornice).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French corniche ("ledge").

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Examples

  • The old colonial architecture makes an attractive backdrop to busy cafes, and the renovated river "corniche" is full of life.

    ETravelBlackboard.com 2008

  • You can hire a private felucca from any of the captains touting for business on the corniche, but the most fun is to be had on the public boats that gather opposite the Ramses Hilton hotel, where mid-river dancing is obligatory.

    Back to the Middle East: Egypt needs your holiday money 2011

  • But rebel fighters were scrambling "We've heard that Gadhafi is coming, and we have to take everything seriously," said rebel spokesman Hisham Gheriani as fighters deployed around the revolutionaries' headquarters in the Benghazi courthouse on the Mediterranean corniche.

    Allies Rally to Stop Gadhafi Keith Johnson 2011

  • The rutted beachfront road in Gaza City is being transformed into a corniche.

    Gaza builders lead economic recovery – with some help from the black market 2012

  • We've heard that Gadhafi is coming, and we have to take everything seriously, said rebel spokesman Hisham Gheriani as fighters deployed around the revolutionaries' headquarters in the Benghazi courthouse on the Mediterranean corniche.

    Emotions Swing in Rebel City Yaroslav Trofimov 2011

  • Witnesses in the eastern city of Dammam reported that four women took a spin with their families on the city's corniche at dawn without incident.

    Saudi women tap road rage against driving ban 2011

  • The Pantocrator massif, rising to 900m, crosses the top of the island, with lush deserted valleys stretching towards the north coast resorts and a sheer drop to the "corniche" of the north-east, with its luxury villas and small shingle bays overlooking Albania, just 2km away, and the mountains of the mainland in the distance.

    Insiders' guide to Greece 2011

  • Witnesses in the eastern city of Dammam reported that four women took a spin with their families on the city's corniche at dawn without incident.

    Saudi women tap road rage against driving ban 2011

  • You can hire a private felucca from any of the captains touting for business on the corniche, but the most fun is to be had on the public boats that gather opposite the Ramses Hilton hotel, where mid-river dancing is obligatory.

    Back to the Middle East: Egypt needs your holiday money 2011

  • The Pantocrator massif, rising to 900m, crosses the top of the island, with lush deserted valleys stretching towards the north coast resorts and a sheer drop to the "corniche" of the north-east, with its luxury villas and small shingle bays overlooking Albania, just 2km away, and the mountains of the mainland in the distance.

    Insiders' guide to Greece 2011

Comments

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  • Wikipedia: "The word corniche typically refers to a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side of the road and falling away on the other."

    July 28, 2008

  • "This street attracts dust, but I wouldn't trade it for the corniche road that makes the Nile unreal, flaming like some fake sunset. They built it a few years back: ever since Russians started arriving by the thousands to build the dam, the city has completely changed."

    Talismano by Abdelwaheb Meddeb, translated by Jane Kuntz, p 140 of the Dalkey Archive Press paperback

    September 26, 2011