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Shakehole vs Pothole - What's the difference?

shakehole | pothole |

As nouns the difference between shakehole and pothole

is that shakehole is a steep-sided, often conical, depression caused by slumping of ground into a cavity beneath. Shakeholes may or may not contain a cave entrance and/or a stream sink while pothole is a shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic.

shakehole

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (British) A steep-sided, often conical, depression caused by slumping of ground into a cavity beneath. Shakeholes may or may not contain a cave entrance and/or a stream sink.
  • Usage notes

    The term is used in northern England.

    Synonyms

    *sinkhole *swallow hole *swallet

    pothole

    English

    Etymology 1

    c 1826, from (etyl) + (hole)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic.
  • A pit formed in the bed of a turbulent stream.
  • * The earliest ideas on the creation of potholes''' are that they were associated with "moulins de glacier" (glacier mills) formed where surface streams on glaciers and ice sheets fall into holes in the ice. Water entering these surficial holes was believed to impact on the bedrock beneath creating a large '''pothole'''. The "Moulin Hypothesis", first suggested in 1874, continued to be accepted by many authors until the 1950s. However, commencing in the 1930s, other authors have suggested dissatisfaction with the moulin hypothesis, largely on the grounds that it failed to explain how ice could remain stable long enough for the "giant" '''potholes''' to form and why many '''potholes (like those at Rockwood) were present in large numbers. Grand River Conservation Authority (Canada) Newsletter of May-June 2002.
  • (geology) A vertical cave system, often found in limestone.
  • Synonyms
    * (large pit in the bed of a stream) giant kettle
    Derived terms
    * potholing

    See also

    * sinkhole

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaeology) A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure hunters or vandals.