promontory - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Promontory.

From Medieval Latin prōmontōrium, from prōmineō, from prō- + *mineō (“to project or jut”, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stand out”)) +‎ -tōrium (“place”).

promontory (plural promontories)

  1. A high point of land extending into a body of water, headland; cliff.
    Synonyms: cliff, headland, hoe, bluff
    • 1857, Hugh Miller, The Cruise of the Betsey:
      Leaving behind us the town at the bottom of its deep bay, we set out to explore a bluff-headed parallelogramical promontory, bounded by Thurso Bay on the one hand, and Murkle Bay on the other, and which presents to the open sea, in the space that stretches between, an undulating line of iron-bound coast, exposed to the roll of the northern ocean.
    • 1970, Ken Fitzgerald, The Space Age Photographic Atlas‎[1], Crown Publishers, page 196:
      South of Hang-chou Wan (Bay) below Shanghai, the China coastline changes from a smooth, flat topography to one of irregular, rocky promontories and numerous islands. Foochow, the Fugiu of Marco Polo, dates from the seventh century. Offshore the Ma-tsu Lieh-tao (Matsu and Pei-kan, or Changshu Islands) are heavily fortified Nationalist strongholds.
  2. (anatomy) A projecting part of the body.
    1. A projection on the sacrum.
    2. A rounded elevation in the tympanum of the ear.

a high point of land extending into a body of water, headland; cliff