What is creek

Chiefly Atlantic States and British. British Dialect. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms. Idioms about creek. Words nearby creek credo , credulity , credulous , Cree , creed , creek , Creek War , creel , Creeley , creep , creepage. Also called Muskogee.

Words related to creek brook , brooklet , burn , crick , ditch , race , rill , river , rivulet , run , runnel , spring , streamlet , tributary , watercourse. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'creek. Send us feedback.

Middle English crike, creke , from Old Norse -kriki bend. See more words from the same century. Accessed 11 Nov. See the full definition for creek in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Nglish: Translation of creek for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of creek for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of creek Entry 1 of 2. Creek noun 2. Definition of Creek Entry 2 of 2. Science Explorer. Multimedia Gallery. Park Passes. Technical Announcements. Employees in the News. Emergency Management. Survey Manual. These are all names for water flowing on the Earth's surface. Whatever you call them and no matter how large they are, they are invaluable for all life on Earth and are important components of the Earth's water cycle.

Glacier melting in springtime causes high streamflows. They are all names for water flowing on the Earth's surface. As far as our Water Science site is concerned, they are pretty much interchangeable. I tend to think of creeks as the smallest of the three, with streams being in the middle, and rivers being the largest.

Most of the water you see flowing in rivers comes from precipitation runoff from the land surface alongside the river. Of course, not all runoff ends up in rivers. Some of it evaporates on the journey downslope, can be diverted and used by people for their uses, and can even be lapped up by thirsty animals. Rivers flow through valleys in the landscape with ridges of higher land separating the valleys.

The area of land between ridges that collects precipitation is a watershed or drainage basin. Most, but not all, precipitation that falls in a watershed runs off directly into rivers - part of it soaks into the ground to recharge groundwater aquifers , some of which can then seep back into riverbeds. A river forms from water moving from a higher elevation to a lower elevation, all due to gravity.

When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff , which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas. In most landscapes the land is not perfectly flat—it slopes downhill in some direction. Flowing water finds its way downhill initially as small creeks. As small creeks flow downhill they merge to form larger streams and rivers.

Rivers eventually end up flowing into the oceans. If water flows to a place that is surrounded by higher land on all sides, a lake will form. If people have built a dam to hinder a river's flow, the lake that forms is a reservoir. The river serves many purposes, from drinking water to wildlife habitat to a recreation spot for the whole city. The phrase "river of life" is not just a random set of words. Rivers have been essential not only to humans, but to all life on earth, ever since life began.

Plants and animals grow and congregate around rivers simply because water is so essential to all life. It might seem that rivers happen to run through many cities in the world, but it is not that the rivers go through the city, but rather that the city was built and grew up around the river.