DCHP-1 Online

interval † Esp. Atlantic Provinces

• n. the low-lying land adjacent to a river, usually of rich soil because of alluvial deposits left by spring freshets.

  See also: interval(e) land  riverbottom  

  • Interval and intervale (a variant arising by popular etymology) both came from New England, being widely disseminated in colonial Canada and the Maritimes, where the term is still in general use.

  • 1799  Those Lots are remarkable for their extent of intervale, the Upland being no less inferior, comprized for the most part of hard timber, and being of a deep black soil, with not more than from ten to fourteen acres of pine.
  • 1825  The extensive tract of interval and meadows at the Forks [is] terminated at one side by the lake and its out-let. . . .
  • 1896  . . . It was a new farm, which father was cutting out of the woods; but it had good bit of 'interval,' so we were able to keep a lot of stock.
  • 1954  Here there are lonely lakes, swamps tucked between wavelike hills, aimless brooks and still waters in which are sourced the creeks that slip through hidden intervales. . . .