Gulf (?), n. [F. golfe, It. golfo, fr.
Gr. &?; bosom, bay, gulf, LGr. &?;.]
1. A hollow place in the
earth; an abyss; a deep
chasm or basin,
He
then surveyed
Hell and the gulf between.
Milton. Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.
Luke xvi.
26. 2. That which swallows; the gullet. [Obs.] Shak.
3. That which swallows irretrievably; a whirlpool; a sucking eddy.
Shak.
A gulf of ruin, swallowing gold.
Tennyson.
4. (Geog.) A portion of an
ocean or sea extending into the land; a partially land-locked sea; as, the
Gulf of Mexico.
5. (Mining) A large deposit of ore in a lode.
Gulf Stream (Geog.), the warm ocean current of the North
Atlantic. It originates
in the westward equatorial current, due to the trade
winds, is deflected northward by Cape St. Roque through the Gulf of Mexico, and flows parallel to the coast
of North America, turning eastward off the island of Nantucket. Its average rate of flow
is said to be about two
miles an hour. The similar Japan current, or Kuro-Siwo, is sometimes called the Gulf Stream of the Pacific. -- Gulf weed (Bot.), a branching seaweed (Sargassum
bacciferum, or sea grape), having numerous berrylike air vessels,
-- found in the Gulf Stream, in the Sargasso Sea, and elsewhere.
Hear it pronounced