dell (landform)

{{short description|Small secluded hollow}}

{{confused|Dale (landform)}}

File:Dell male karpaty.jpg with a dry stream channel]]

In physical geography, a dell is a grassy hollow—or dried stream bed—often partially covered in trees.[http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/dell www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/dell]{{cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dell?s=t |title=Dell Definition & Meaning |publisher=Dictionary.com |date= |accessdate=2022-05-13}} In literature, dells have pastoral connotations, frequently imagined as secluded and pleasant safe havens.

The word "dell" comes from the Old English word dell, which is related to the Old English word dæl, modern 'dale'. John Richard Clark Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the word "dingle", although "dingle" specifically refers to deep ravines or hollows that are embowered with trees.{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dingle|publisher=Merriam Webster|title=dingle|access-date=October 31, 2018}} The terms have also been combined to form examples of tautological placenames in Dingle Dell, Kent, and Dingle Dell Reserve, Auckland.{{cite web|title=Dingle Dell, Sevenoaks|url=https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/dingle-dell-sevenoaks|access-date=July 27, 2020|website=The Ordnance Survey}}{{Cite journal|last=Wilcox|first=M|date=2013|title=Flora of dingle dell reserve, St Heliers|url=https://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz/handle/10652/2634|journal=Auckland Botanical Society Journal|volume=68|issue=2|pages=118–132|access-date=2020-07-27|archive-date=2021-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210125359/https://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz/handle/10652/2634|url-status=dead}}