lost river

noun

1. a river that flows into an underground passage or sinkhole.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lost river¹

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

The avalanche occurred Friday when two experienced backcountry skiers were traveling on Donaldson Peak in Idaho’s Lost River Range, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center said.

From Seattle Times

It's been said for generations that the outlaw Jesse James once woke up, pistols blazing, in a bedroom above Bardstown’s famed Talbot Tavern, firing a few bullets still lodged in the wall at one of its well-known ghosts before escaping arrest by slipping into a cave under the bar, emerging in the Lost River Cave, where Union soldiers and Confederate alike once made use of the tunnels.

From Salon

Whitney Fore wrote that she and her husband bought property in the Lost River area of Hardy County so that they and their two young children “could escape the pollution of Washington.”

From Seattle Times

Such is the case with Pennsylvania's aptly named lost river.

From Salon

Meanwhile, the most well-known lost river in Indiana rises in Vernon Township, Washington County but is mostly underground.

From Salon