alp

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

alp, n. [L. Alpes the Alps, said to be of Celtic origin; cf. Gael. alp a high mountain, Ir. ailp any huge mass or lump: cf. F. Alpes.].

•  A very high mountain. Specifically, in the plural, the highest chain of mountains in Europe, containing the lofty mountains of Switzerland, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nor breath of vernal air from snowy alp."  [1913 Webster]

  "Hills peep o'er hills, and alps on alps arise."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: Something lofty, or massive, or very hard to be surmounted.  [1913 Webster]

  " The plural form Alps is sometimes used as a singular. “The Alps doth spit.”"  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

alp, n. 

 A bullfinch.  Rom. of R.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

alp, n.
1 a a high mountain. b (the Alps) the high range of mountains in Switzerland and adjoining countries.
2 (in Switzerland) pasture-land on a mountainside.

Etymology

orig. pl., f. F f. L Alpes f. Gk Alpeis

ROGET THESAURUS

alp

Height

N height, altitude, elevation, eminence, pitch, loftiness, sublimity, tallness, stature, procerity, prominence, colossus, giant, grenadier, giraffe, camelopard, mount, mountain, hill alto, butte, monticle, fell, knap, cape, headland, foreland, promontory, ridge, hog's back, dune, rising ground, vantage ground, down, moor, moorland, Alp, uplands, highlands, heights, knob, loma, pena, picacho, tump, knoll, hummock, hillock, barrow, mound, mole, steeps, bluff, cliff, craig, tor, peak, pike, clough, escarpment, edge, ledge, brae, dizzy height, tower, pillar, column, obelisk, monument, steeple, spire, minaret, campanile, turret, dome, cupola, skyscraper, pole, pikestaff, maypole, flagstaff, top mast, topgallant mast, ceiling, high water, high tide, flood tide, spring tide, altimetry, batophobia, satellite, spy-in-the-sky, high, elevated, eminent, exalted, lofty, tall, gigantic, Patagonian, towering, beetling, soaring, hanging (gardens), elevated, upper, highest, high reaching, insessorial, perching, upland, moorland, hilly, knobby, mountainous, alpine, subalpine, heaven kissing, cloudtopt, cloudcapt, cloudtouching, aerial, overhanging, incumbent, overlying, superincumbent, supernatant, superimposed, prominent, tall as a maypole, tall as a poplar, tall as a steeple, lanky, on high, high up, aloft, up, above, aloof, overhead, airwind, upstairs, abovestairs, in the clouds, on tiptoe, on stilts, on the shoulders of, over head and ears, breast high, over, upwards, from top to bottom, e meglio cader dalle finistre che dal tetto.