Hypertext Webster Gateway: "rift"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rift \Rift\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rifted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Rifting}.]
To cleave; to rive; to split; as, to rift an oak or a rock;
to rift the clouds. --Longfellow.
To dwell these rifted rocks between. --Wordsworth.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rift \Rift\, v. i.
1. To burst open; to split. --Shak.
Timber . . . not apt to rif with ordnance. --Bacon.
2. To belch. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rift \Rift\, n. [Written also {reft}.] [Dan. rift, fr. rieve to
rend. See {Rive}.]
1. An opening made by riving or splitting; a cleft; a
fissure. --Spenser.
2. A shallow place in a stream; a ford.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Rift \Rift\, obs.
p. p. of {Rive}. --Spenser.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
rift
n 1: a gap between cloud masses; "the sun shone through a rift in
the clouds"
2: a narrow fissure in rock
3: a personal or social separation (as between opposing
factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
[syn: {rupture}, {breach}, {break}, {severance}, {falling
out}]
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