debouch meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

debouch

noun

/dɪˈbuːʃ/ · /dɪˈbaʊt͡ʃ/

Etymology From French déboucher (de + bouche (“mouth”)), modelled on Italian sboccare.

Geography, Natural sciences A narrow outlet from which a body of water pours.

In level portions of the country vertical shafts are preferred, but where the mine is situated upon a hill a debouch may often be found below the sulphur seam, ...1888 May 26, Phillip Carroll, “Sulphur Mines in Sicily”, in Scientific American Supplement, number 647:

Government, Military, Politics, War A fortress at the end of a defile.

To prevent another demonstration of this character, and to insure a debouch on the south bank of the James, it became necessary to occupy Coggin's Point, which was done on the 3d, and the enemy driven back towards Petersburg.1887, George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story:

verb

Etymology From French déboucher (de + bouche (“mouth”)), modelled on Italian sboccare.

To pour forth from a narrow opening; to emerge from a narrow place like a defile into open country or a wider space.

The pretty pimpled young man, no longer a boy, came down from the imperial box in his purple to the performers’ well which debouched into the arena.1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:
Ungrateful brats debouch from their cheap holiday in someone else’s misery and their tired parents try desperately to summon up joy out of indifference.1993, Will Self, My Idea of Fun:

1 more example

The water rushes away in uncommonly long waterfalls, downward for hours, unbrak’d, till at last debouching into an interior Lake of great size.1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.