[a. Du. kloof cleft: see CLOVE sb.5] In South Africa: A deep narrow valley; a ravine or gorge between mountains.
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 18. The Lion is separated from the Table-Hill by a small Kloof, as the Dutch call it, i. e. a Cleft or Descent.
1775. Masson, in Phil. Trans., LXVI. 273. We ascended the mountains by an exceedingly steep rugged path, which the peasants call Hottentot Holland Kloof.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., v. 208–9. Lofty hills … broken by kloofs, or subsidiary dales.
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, II. 20. On a nearer approach, dark glens and gloomy ‘kloofs’ are found to furrow the mountain sides.
attrib. 1899. Rider Haggard, Swallow, iv. Her face was rich in hue as a kloof lily.
