swale

Definitions

1. A river, a tributary of the Ure in North Yorkshire, England.
2. A low tract of moist or marshy land.
3. A gutter in a candle.
   UK, dialectal
4. A strait between the Isle of Sheppey and the Kentish mainland; in full, The Swale.
5. A long narrow and shallow trough between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.
6. A local government district with borough status in Kent, England, created in 1974 with its headquarters in Sittingbourne and named after the channel.
7. A shallow troughlike depression created to carry water during rainstorms or snow melts; a drainage ditch.
8. Bioswale, a shallow trough dug into the land on contour (horizontally with no slope), whose purpose is to allow water time to percolate into the soil.
9. A shallow, usually grassy depression sloping downward from a plains upland meadow or level vegetated ridgetop.

Equivalents

Examples

“The stored water creates an underground reservoir that aids plant⟳ growth for tens of feet below the swale. Swales also prevent⟳ gullies from forming by intercepting rainwater, slowing it, spreading it, and storing it in the soil.”

“Jane climbed a few more paces behind him and then peeped over the ridge. Just beyond began a shallow swale that deepened and widened into a valley, and then swung to the left.”

CEFR level