Reef

Definition: Reef

Reef

Noun

1. A submerged ridge of rock or coral near the surface of the water.

2. A rocky region in the southern Transvaal in northeastern South Africa; contains rich gold deposits and coal and manganese.

Verb

1. Lower and bring partially inboard, as of a mast on a sailboat.

2. Roll up (a portion of a sail) in order to reduce its area.

3. Reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "reef" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1702. (references)

Literature

Mining

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Reef

Island

Noun: island, isle, islet, eyot, ait, holf, reef, atoll, breaker; archipelago; islander.

Pitfall

Noun: rocks, reefs, coral reef, sunken rocks, snags; sands, quicksands; syrt, syrtis; Goodwin sands, sandy foundation; slippery ground; breakers, shoals, shallows, bank, shelf, flat, lee shore, ironbound coast; rock ahead, breakers ahead.

Safety

Make assurance doubly sure; (caution); take up a loose thread; take precautions; (prepare for); double reef topsails.

Slowness

Retard, relax; slacken, check, moderate, rein in, curb; reef; strike sail, shorten sail, take in sail; put on the drag, apply the brake; clip the wings; reduce the speed; slacken speed, slacken one's pace; lose ground.

Crosswords: Reef

Bought a second-hand schooner that had one, but I never listened until I ran up on a reef in Samoa and had to wait almost a week for help (Remember WENN; writing credit: Erik Amdrup; Jonas Cornell)

Barrier Reef (1971)

Treasure of San Bosco Reef (1968)

Donovan's Reef (1963)

The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960)

She Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• Reef Casino Trust: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• Beyond the Reef (Richard Bolitho Novels/Alexander Kent, No. 19) (reference)

• Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez: The Rocky-Shore Fishes of the Gulf of (reference)

• Marine Algae Control Secrets - Remedies for the Marine and Reef Aquarium (reference)

• Utah Byways: 65 Backcountry Drives For The Whole Family, including Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, San Rafael Swell and Glen Canyon (reference)

• Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1: Reef Gardening for Aquarists (reference)

  (more book examples)

Periodicals

• Reef Mises A Jour (reference)

  (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies

• Donovan's Reef (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Sounds of Paradise: Desert Islands, Coral Reef (reference)

• Vol. 2-Coral Reef (reference)

• Reef Madness (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Monk seals blending in with the reef and rocks at Laysan Island. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals).

Coral reef on south shore of American Samoa. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Looking across the entrance to the harbor Wrecked Japanese tuna boat on the reef on the west side of entrance. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Flying into Western Samoa - prominent fringing reef. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Classic atoll with barrier reef on the outside and lagoon on the inside. Credit: America's Coastlines.

The shaded variations in the water illustrate the patch reefs common at Mona Island. The breaking waves show the beginning of the main reef framework. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

A coral fragment is cross-wired to keep it secure in the high energy environment at the fringing reef at Mona Island. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Fifteen small islets are part of the Caribe Keys, where the seagrass, coral reef , and mangrove habitats intersect and interconnect. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR).

Conch Reef, FL, home of the AQUARIUS undersea lab. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

Endangered sea turtle cruises a coral reef in the Florida Keys. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Economic History

Papua New Guinea

The U.S. Government supports the International Coral Reef Initiative aimed at protecting reefs in tropical nations such as Papua New Guinea. (references)

Maldives

Mining of sand and coral have removed the natural coral reef that protected several important islands, making them highly susceptible to the erosive effects of the sea. (references)

Bermuda

Bermuda was discovered in 1503 by a Spanish explorer, Juan de Bermudez, who made no attempt to land because of the treacherous reef surrounding the uninhabited islands. (references)

Worker Rights

Philippines

Efforts to address the practice of employing children as divers in dangerous conditions on coral reef fishing vessels met with mixed success. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "reef": algal reef ♦ balance reef ♦ bank reef ♦ barrier reef ♦ Capitol Reef National Park ♦ Close reef ♦ coral reef ♦ double reef topsails ♦ Fringing reef ♦ Irish reef ♦ Irishman's reef ♦ kingman Reef ♦ Ocean Reef ♦ platform reef ♦ reef band ♦ reef builder ♦ reef core ♦ reef heron ♦ reef knot ♦ reef line ♦ reef point ♦ reef points ♦ reef squirrelfish ♦ reef tackle ♦ reef whitetip shark ♦ sand reef ♦ shake out a reef ♦ spanish reef ♦ submerged reef ♦ table reef ♦ take in a reef ♦ To reef the paddles ♦ To shake out a reef ♦ To take a reef in. Additional references.

Beginning with "reef": Reef-band, reef-builders, reef-building, reef-cities, reef-cut, reef-forming, reef-hive, reef-knot, reef-like.

Ending with "reef": inter-reef.

Containing "reef": Big-fin-reef-squid.

Albanian

shkrembinj nënujore, sharrnajë (cay), palë (cuff, fly, gathers, hem, lap, lappet, pair, pendant, roll, turn up), gumë (shelf of rock, submerged reef), damar (lode, seam, streak, thread). (various references)

Arabic 

‏نقص مساحة الشراع, ‏سلسلة صخور قرب سطح الماء, ‏عقبة خطيرة, ‏عرق معدني (ledge, lode, rib, streak), ‏خفض السارية جزئيا أو كلي, ‏ثنية الشراع, ‏ثنى الشراع. (various references)

Bulgarian 

свивам част от корабно платно, рудна жила (course, ledge, lode, rib), риф (key, ledge, ridge, shelf, skerry), златоносна скала, златоносен пласт, прибирам бушприт, подводна скала (ridge, sunken rock), подмол (cavity in a bank). (various references)

Catalan

roca. (various references)

Chinese 

礁石, 礁 (shoal rock). (various references)

Czech

rif, nános písku, druh plachty, útes (cliff, rock), úskalí (rock). (various references)

Danish

tovværk (reef knittle), sandbanke (sand bank, sand reef, sandbank, sandbar, shallow place), opdukket rev (emerged reef), kystrev (beach reef, fringing reef, sandbar), koralrev (bank reef, coral reef, platform reef, table reef), blotlagt rev (emerged reef), algerev (algal reef). (various references)

Dutch

rif, klip (cliff). (various references)

Esperanto

rifo. (various references)

Faeroese

riv (rib), sker. (various references)

Farsi 

پیچیدن وجمع کردن بادبان , مرض جرب , تپه دریاءی , جمع کردن (Add, Agglomerate, Aggregate, Callup, Cluster, Collect, Constrict, Convene, Eke, Gather, Gross, Immobilize, In, Purse, Rollup, Total, Tote), جزیره نما. (various references)

Finnish

riutta (bank), luoto (rock, rocky islet, shoal), kari (rock, shallow). (various references)

French

récif, écueil. (various references)

German

Riff (ledge, ridge, riff, shelf). (various references)

Greek 

ύφαλοσ (shelf, shoal), ύφαλος, συστέλλω τα ιστία, ξέρα (shoals, sunken rock), μαζεύω τα πανιά. (various references)

Hebrew 

שונית (bluff, cliff, headland), שרטון (bank of a river, sand bar, sandbank, shoal), סרח המפרש. (various references)

Hungarian

zátony (bank, bar, rock, shallow, shelf, shelves, shoal, spit), vitorla behúzható része, reff. (various references)

Indonesian

menggulungkan (furl, roll up for, wind for), mengandakkan (limit, take in), batu karang. (various references)

Italian

scogliera (bluff, cliff, rock). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

砂州 (sandbank, sandbar), 暗礁 (sunken rock), 岩礁. (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

がんしょう (bedrock, burned down, complete victory, entirely destroyed, magma, outpost, precedent, previous existence, prior chapter), リーフ (leaf), さす (sandbank, sandbar, to apply moxa cautery, to bite, to catch, to graft, to insert, to light, to pierce, to pin down, to play, to point, to pole, to pour, to prick, to put in, to put up umbrella, to putout, to raise umbrella, to raisehands, to serve, to shine, to stab, to stick, to sting, to stitch, to strike, to thrust, to wear in belt), こうみゃく (streak), あんしょう (cipher, code, memorization, recitation, recite from memory, sunken rock). (various references)

Korean 

암초. (various references)

Manx

sker (key, ledger, ledger in sea, ridge, rockface, sea rock, skerry, underwater rock), coorse (career, circuit, course, curriculum, racetrack, route, routine, row, travel, way). (various references)

Pig Latin

eefray.(various references)

Portuguese

recife (breaker, rock, skerry). (various references)

Romanian

recif (shelf), terţarolã, banc (anecdote, Baccara, bank, bed, crank, layer, run, wisecrack). (various references)

Russian 

риф (ledge, shelf, skerry). (various references)

Scottish

sgeir (a rock in the sea, skerry). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

kratica na jedru, greben (card, comb, crag, crest, mull, overfall, ridge, ripple, skerry). (various references)

Spanish

roca (boulder, rock), escollo (barrier, hidden danger, pitfall, rock, stumbling block), arrecife (shelf). (various references)

Swedish

rev (cay, fishing line, fishing-line, ripped, shelf). (various references)

Thai

แนวหินโสโครก, สายแร่. (various references)

Turkish

resif, temkinli davranmak, sığ kayalık, ihtiyatlı hareket etmek, camadan vurmak (snug, snug down, take in a reef), camadan, altınlı maden damarı. (various references)

Ukrainian

рудна жила, розробляти рудну жилу, риф (bank, ledge), брати рифи. (various references)

Vietnamese 

mạch quặng. (various references)

caute. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "reef": reefable, reefed, reefer, reefers, reefier, reefiest, reefing, reefs, reefy. (additional references)

Words ending with "reef": shereef. (additional references)

Words containing "reef": freeform, shereefs, threefold. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Reef" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: breef, ceef, creef, Creeft, dreff, erif, geef, greef, Greeff, jeef, Neef, qef, Raef, Raeff, rafe, raif, rarf, reaf, reeb, reefe, reeft, reeg, reeh, reej, Reem, reep, reer, reet, reev, reew, reez, refe, refee, refem, refex, reff, refr, refy, reib, Reiff, reiv, reje, releefe, relef, req, rheef, riaf, Rieff, roef, ryc, ryr, treef, trefe, xef, zeef. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: fere, free.

-1 letter: ere, fee, fer, ree, ref.

-2 letters: ef, er, re.

+1 letter: defer, feres, fever, fewer, feyer, fleer, freed, freer, frees, frere, reefs, reefy, refed, refel, refer.

+2 letters: afreet, before, befret, bereft, deafer, defers, defier, defter, enserf, faerie, fakeer, feared, fearer, feater, feeder, feeler, feirie, feller, fencer, fender, feriae, ferine, ferlie, ferrel, ferret, ferule, fester, fetter, fevers, fierce, fleers, formee, freely, freers, freest, freeze, freres, frieze, frisee, fueler, hefter, heifer, hereof, kerfed, lefter, liefer, prefer, redefy, reefed, reefer, reface, refect, refeed, refeel, refell, refels, refelt, refers, reffed, refile, refine, refire, reflet, reflew, reflex, refuel, refuge, refuse, refute, relief, telfer, unfree.