What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

River vs Lake - What's the difference?

river | lake |

As nouns the difference between river and lake

is that river is a large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, ending at an ocean or in an inland sea or river can be one who rives or splits while lake is a small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain or lake can be (obsolete) an offering, sacrifice, gift or lake can be (obsolete) fine linen or lake can be in dyeing and painting, an often fugitive crimson or vermillion pigment derived from an organic colorant (cochineal or madder, for example) and an inorganic, generally metallic mordant.

As verbs the difference between river and lake

is that river is (poker) to improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game while lake is (obsolete) to present an offering or lake can be to make lake-red or lake can be (obsolete) to play; to sport .

river

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), from .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, ending at an ocean or in an inland sea.
  • * 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
  • By the side of the river' he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the ' river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers , washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}
  • Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
  • (poker) The last card dealt in a hand.
  • Derived terms
    * cry someone a river * riverbank * riverbed * river basin * river bed * river birch * river blindness * riverboat/river boat * river bottom * river boulder * river dolphin * river duck * riverfront * river hog * river horse * riverine * river lamprey * river limper * river mouth * river otter * river pear * river prawn * river runner * river shad * riverside * riverward * riverway * sell down the river * submarine river * up the river * (river)
    See also
    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (poker) To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.
  • Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who rives or splits.
  • References

    *

    Statistics

    * ----

    lake

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . Despite their similarity in form and meaning, (etyl) lake is not related to (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain.
  • A large, landlocked stretch of water.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake . I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
  • A large amount of liquid; as , a wine lake.
  • * 1991 , (Robert DeNiro) (actor), :
  • So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before'' or ''after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * ephemeral lake * Great Lakes * Lake District * Lakes * lakeness * oxbow lake
    See also
    * billabong * lagoon * pond * tarn
    References
    * {{reference-book , last = Kenneth , first = Sisam , title = Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose , origyear = 2009 , publisher = BiblioBazaar , id = ISBN 1110730802, 9781110730803 }} * {{reference-book , last = Astell , first = Ann W. , title = Political allegory in late medieval England , origyear = 1999 , publisher = Cornell University Press , id = ISBN 0801435609, 9780801435607 , pages = 192 }} * {{reference-book , last = Cameron , first = Kenneth , title = English Place Names , origyear = 1961 , publisher = B. T. Batsford Limited , id = SBN 416 27990 2 , pages = 164 }} * {{reference-book , last = Maetzner , first = Eduard Adolf Ferdinand , title = An English Grammar; Methodical, Analytical, and Historical , origyear = 2009 , publisher = BiblioBazaar, LLC , id = ISBN 1113149965, 9781113149961 , pages = 200 }} * {{reference-book , last = Rissanen , first = Matti , title = History of Englishes: new methods and interpretations in historical linguistics , origyear = 1992 , publisher = Walter de Gruyter , id = ISBN 3110132168, 9783110132168 , pages = 513-514 }} * {{reference-book , last = Ferguson , first = Robert , title = English surnames: and their place in the Teutonic family , origyear = 1858 , publisher = G. Routledge & co. , pages = 368 }}

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) lake, lak, lac (also loke, laik, layke), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An offering, sacrifice, gift.
  • (dialectal) Play; sport; game; fun; glee.
  • Derived terms
    * bridelock * wedlock

    Verb

    (lak)
  • (obsolete) To present an offering.
  • (chiefly, dialectal) To leap, jump, exert oneself, play.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) lachen

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Fine linen.
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) , referring to the number of insects that gather on the trees and make the resin seep out.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • In dyeing and painting, an often fugitive crimson or vermillion pigment derived from an organic colorant (cochineal or madder, for example) and an inorganic, generally metallic mordant.
  • Derived terms
    * lake-red

    Verb

    (lak)
  • To make lake-red.
  • Etymology 5

    Compare lek.

    Verb

    (lak)
  • (obsolete) To play; to sport.
  • Anagrams

    * kale * leak English terms with multiple etymologies ----