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Niagara Falls 1
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Waterfalls north-northwest of Buffalo, New York, consisting of the American Falls, about 260 m (850 ft) wide, and the Canadian, or Horseshoe, Falls, about 670 m (2,200 ft) wide. They are located in the Niagara River, a waterway flowing about 55 km (35 mi) north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario along the United States-Canada border.
(click for a larger image)
Niagara Falls1
aerial view of the Canadian (foreground) and American (background) Falls

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Niagara Falls 2
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1. A city of western New York on the falls of the Niagara River north-northwest of Buffalo. It was settled in the early 1800s after the Americans gained control of Fort Niagara, a strategic garrison at the mouth of the river. The city grew as a tourist destination and is the site of the first commercial hydroelectric plant (1896).
2. A city of southeast Ontario, Canada, on the Niagara River opposite Niagara Falls, New York.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.