Word.ws English Dictionary

cluse

/kluz/

cluse noun: a defile or narrow gorge, especially one that cuts transversely through the rock of an otherwise continuous ridge.

Noun

cluse (plural cluses)

  1. A defile or narrow gorge, especially one that cuts transversely through the rock of an otherwise continuous ridge.
    • [...] others are bounded by the steep walls of the cluses, these being the most picturesque; others, again, occupy the combes referred to above.1876, Elisée Reclus, The Earth and Its Inhabitants: France and Switzerland, page 150
    • Penck states that many a cluse in the Jura may have been formed by subterranean streams widening their channels until the covering broke down and their subterranean valleys became exposed[…]1892, Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, page 402

Forms of cluse

pluralcluses

Origin of cluse

In many cases, italicized as a borrowing of French cluse. In Early Modern texts, possibly a continuation of Middle English cluse, Old English clūse (“narrow pass”).

Questions about cluse

What does cluse mean?
Cluse means a defile or narrow gorge, especially one that cuts transversely through the rock of an otherwise continuous ridge.
What part of speech is cluse?
Cluse is a noun.
How do you pronounce cluse?
Cluse is pronounced /kluz/.
What is the plural of cluse?
The plural of cluse is cluses.

Words near cluse in the dictionary

  1. clupeomorph
  2. clupeomorphs
  3. clurichaun
  4. clurichauns
  5. CLUs
  6. cluse
  7. cluses
  8. clusia
  9. clusiaceous
  10. clusias
  11. clusiid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cluse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cluse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cluse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.