I. ˈgəlf, ˈgəu̇f noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English goulf, golf, from Middle French golfe, from Old French, from Old Italian golfo, from Late Latin colpus, colfus, from Greek kolpos bosom, bay, gulf; akin to Old English hwealf vault, arch, Old High German walbo vault, arch, hwelben to vault, arch, Old Norse hvalf vault, Gothic hwilf trjom, dative plural, coffin
1. : a part of an ocean or sea extending into the land : a partially landlocked sea that is usually larger than a bay
the Gulf of Mexico
2.
a. : a hollow place in the earth : a deep chasm or basin : abyss
a gulf opened between the little town … and its suburbs — Charles Lyell
b. : a deep narrow pass
the state's three central north-south gulfs … are the natural gateways through mountains otherwise impassable by road — New York Times
3.
a. : a sucking eddy : whirlpool
and whirl round the gulf before they sink — Samuel Johnson
b. : something that swallows up or devours
the gulfs … in which the population of the country is lost — Jeremy Bentham
4. : an impassable or unbridgeable gap that serves as a means of separation : a wide interval
the broad and deep gulf which … divides the living from the dead, the organic from the inorganic — W.R.Inge
theory and reality, principles and practice — how many have fallen in the gulf between them — Theodore Draper
5. archaic : draft 2
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to swallow up : engulf
2. : to pass (a British university student) without honors