Nile

[nahyl] /naɪl/
noun
1.
a river in E Africa, the longest in the world, flowing N from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. 3473 miles (5592 km) long; from the headwaters of the Kagera River, 4000 miles (6440 km) long.
Compare Blue Nile, White Nile.
Examples from the web for Nile
  • His name means running one, probably referring to the current of the Nile.
  • Both men clearly hoped that their expedition would locate the source of the Nile.
  • It was this lake which eventually proved to be the source of the river Nile.
British Dictionary definitions for Nile

Nile

/naɪl/
noun
1.
a river in Africa, rising in S central Burundi in its remotest headstream, the Luvironza: flows into Lake Victoria and leaves the lake as the Victoria Nile, flowing to Lake Albert, which is drained by the Albert Nile, becoming the White Nile at Lake No, then flowing through South Sudan; joined by its chief tributary, the Blue Nile (which rises near Lake Tana, Ethiopia) at Khartoum, and flows north to its delta on the Mediterranean; the longest river in the world. Length: (from the source of the Luvironza to the Mediterranean) 6741 km (4187 miles)
Word Origin and History for Nile

one of the world's oldest surviving place names, from a Semitic root nahal "river." Unnamed in Old Testament, it is always merely "the river" (Hebrew yeor).

Nile in the Bible

dark; blue, not found in Scripture, but frequently referred to in the Old Testament under the name of Sihor, i.e., "the black stream" (Isa. 23:3; Jer. 2:18) or simply "the river" (Gen. 41:1; Ex. 1:22, etc.) and the "flood of Egypt" (Amos 8:8). It consists of two rivers, the White Nile, which takes its rise in the Victoria Nyanza, and the Blue Nile, which rises in the Abyssinian Mountains. These unite at the town of Khartoum, whence it pursues its course for 1,800 miles, and falls into the Mediterranean through its two branches, into which it is divided a few miles north of Cairo, the Rosetta and the Damietta branch. (See EGYPT.)