nullah

Noun

nullah (plural nullahs)

1. (South-Asia) A stream-bed, ravine, or other watercourse; a drain for rain or floodwater.
   • About this time a large gole of horsemen came on towards me, and I proposed to charge; but as they turned at once from the fire of the guns, and as there was a nullah in front, I refrained from advancing after them.1849, Brigadier Lockwood, Report of 2nd Cavalry Division at Battle of Goojerat
   • It was just after the exit from a bridge; the animal had probably come up out of the nullah.1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC
2. (Hong-Kong) An open-air, concrete-lined channel for draining rain or wastewater; a storm drain.
   • On all sides, wild mountains rise precipitously above wooded nullahs, and we have a clear view, to the right, of the famous Amah Rock, with its singular resemblance to a Chinese woman carrying her baby on her back in the traditional fashion.1954 October, 'Boscawen', “The Kowloon-Canton Railway of Today”, in Railway Magazine, page 712