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dalles (DALZ) - pl.n., river rapids running between the narrow walls of a canyon or gorge.
Can extend to the parts before and after the rapids proper, where the walls are still narrow. Also sometimes spelled dells. The Dalles, Oregon, is named after dalles on the Columbia River. This is an Americanism/Canadianism dating to around 1830, adapting from Canadian French the plural of Normandy dialect French dalle, water trough/sluice, from Germanic sources such as Old Norse dæla, drain gutter (on a ship's deck), and akin to Old English dæl, dale/valley.
---L.
Can extend to the parts before and after the rapids proper, where the walls are still narrow. Also sometimes spelled dells. The Dalles, Oregon, is named after dalles on the Columbia River. This is an Americanism/Canadianism dating to around 1830, adapting from Canadian French the plural of Normandy dialect French dalle, water trough/sluice, from Germanic sources such as Old Norse dæla, drain gutter (on a ship's deck), and akin to Old English dæl, dale/valley.
---L.
