[f. TIDE sb. 7 + RIP sb.5 1.]
1. A commotion of the sea caused by opposing currents, or by a rapid current passing over an uneven bottom.
1830. N. S. Wheaton, Jrnl., 518. We are now on George’s Bank, and surrounded with tide-rips, having precisely the appearance of those at the mouth of a river.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, § 752. Tide-rips present their most imposing aspect in the equatorial regions.
1875. R. F. Burton, Gorilla L. (1876), I. 2. When the current, setting to the northwest, meets a strong sea-breeze from the west, there is a criss-cross, a tide-rip.
2. A tidal wave or current.
1903. Blackw. Mag., March, 380/1. It was known as Fort Comosun or ‘Rush of Waters’ after the tide-rip that races up the Victoria arm.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 4 Feb., 5/2. A tidal wave—a ‘tide rip,’ as the sailors call it, because they can see it approaching like a ripple on a smooth sea—is a disturbance on the surface of the ocean depending entirely on the influence of the moon.
