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Glite Dictionary
Blue Ridge

Blue Ridge

7 5.1
A range of Appalachian mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia that look blue from far away
  • proper noun
  • /bluː rɪdʒ/
  • US
: Blue Ridge
  • His greatest feat was cutting four railroad tunnels through the Blue Ridge Mountains, a task begun in 1850 and completed eight years later.
  • Blue Ridge Mountains

I live in the Piedmont of North Carolina, about two hours southeast of the Blue Ridge Mountains and about the same distance northwest of the Atlantic Ocean.

Examples

  • The hot day had begun to cool as the sun dipped toward the peak of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

    Blog text (12)

  • Crozet nestles in the haunches of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I got miles and miles and miles and miles ahead of me before I reach the Blue Ridge,

    Cold Mountain (2003)

  • We have been ordered to cross the Blue Ridge to his assistance.

    Gods and Generals (2003)

  • Our family recently purchased some land there, in the Blue Ridge Mountain chain.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The rolling hills of the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains seem to go on forever.

    Blog text (10)

  • There were photos of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on the paneled walls.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Whites believed that the Chattahoochee River offered particularly healthy water, distilled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The New River, then, along with the Blue Ridge Parkway, has become increasingly important because of its scenic beauty and ability to attract sightseers.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The views from the Blue Ridge mountains are breathtaking, especially at sunrise.

Synonyms

Blue Ridge Mountains
vsBlue Ridge
  • US
4 3.3

A mountain range in the eastern United States from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia

is the shorter name that omits the landform noun

Surface Forms

Blue Ridge main

Morphology

blue + ridge

The compound is a toponym but its meaning is directly built from 'blue' (the color) + 'ridge' (a long elevated landform), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a ridge with a bluish appearance. The pattern (color + landform) is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary English composition, making the expression immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

Blue Ridge gets its name from how the distant hills look: the far ridges often seem blue in the light. So the name describes those bluish hills and is used for the 'mountain range'.