Euphrates

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Euphrates \Euphrates\ prop. n.
     an Asia river flowing into the Persian Gulf.
  
     Syn: Euphrates River.
          [WordNet 1.5]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Euphrates
       n : a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf;
           was important in the development of several great
           civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia [syn: {Euphrates
           River}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Euphrates
     Hebrew, Perath; Assyrian, Purat; Persian cuneiform, Ufratush,
     whence Greek Euphrates, meaning "sweet water." The Assyrian name
     means "the stream," or "the great stream." It is generally
     called in the Bible simply "the river" (Ex. 23:31), or "the
     great river" (Deut. 1:7).
     
       The Euphrates is first mentioned in Gen. 2:14 as one of the
     rivers of Paradise. It is next mentioned in connection with the
     covenant which God entered into with Abraham (15:18), when he
     promised to his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to
     the river Euphrates (comp. Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:4), a covenant
     promise afterwards fulfilled in the extended conquests of David
     (2 Sam. 8:2-14; 1 Chr. 18:3; 1 Kings 4:24). It was then the
     boundary of the kingdom to the north-east. In the ancient
     history of Assyria, and Babylon, and Egypt many events are
     recorded in which mention is made of the "great river." Just as
     the Nile represented in prophecy the power of Egypt, so the
     Euphrates represented the Assyrian power (Isa. 8:7; Jer. 2:18).
     
       It is by far the largest and most important of all the rivers
     of Western Asia. From its source in the Armenian mountains to
     the Persian Gulf, into which it empties itself, it has a course
     of about 1,700 miles. It has two sources, (1) the Frat or
     Kara-su (i.e., "the black river"), which rises 25 miles
     north-east of Erzeroum; and (2) the Muradchai (i.e., "the river
     of desire"), which rises near Ararat, on the northern slope of
     Ala-tagh. At Kebban Maden, 400 miles from the source of the
     former, and 270 from that of the latter, they meet and form the
     majestic stream, which is at length joined by the Tigris at
     Koornah, after which it is called Shat-el-Arab, which runs in a
     deep and broad stream for above 140 miles to the sea. It is
     estimated that the alluvium brought down by these rivers
     encroaches on the sea at the rate of about one mile in thirty
     years.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Euphrates, that makes fruitful