Cabbeling

//kəˈbɛlɪŋ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The process by which two masses of water with different temperatures and salinities mix to form a new water mass with a density higher than the density of either parent water mass; also, the sinking of the new water mass as the effect of its increased density. uncountable

    "He reasoned that cabbeling would form a front at the juxtaposition of Warm Deep Water and Shelf Water. Sinking along such a front would thus inhibit the cross shelf flow of shelf water."

Example

More examples

"He reasoned that cabbeling would form a front at the juxtaposition of Warm Deep Water and Shelf Water. Sinking along such a front would thus inhibit the cross shelf flow of shelf water."

Etymology

From German Kabbelung; according to Foster (1972), the German word was first applied to the phenomenon by Witte (1902), and subsequently used in an anglicized form by Stommel (1960) and others.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.