barranca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish barranca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɹæŋkə/

Noun

barranca (plural barrancas)

1. A steep-sided gulch or arroyo; a canyon or ravine.
   • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 138:

     “Well: hardly,” said the Consul, softly as before, casting a suspicious eye for his part in the other direction at some maguey growing beyond the barranca, like a battalion moving up a slope under machine-gun fire.

   • 1973, Al Jardine (lyrics and music), “California Saga (California)”, in Holland, performed by The Beach Boys:

     Have you ever been south of Monterey? / Barrancas carve the coastline / And the chaparral flows to the sea / 'Neath waves of golden sunshine

   • 1994, Gordon Bowker, Pursued by Furies: A Life of Malcolm Lowry:

     […] his hero, the Consul, is shot and thrown down the barranca followed by a dead dog.

Anagrams

• barracan

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈranka/ [baˈrãŋ.ka]
• Rhymes: -anka
• Syllabification: ba‧rran‧ca

Noun

barranca f (plural barrancas)

1. canyon, ravine, barranca

   Synonyms: barranco, quiebra, quebrada

Derived terms

• a trancas y barrancas

 

Related terms

• Barranca del Cobre

 

Further reading

• “barranca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10