goyle

plural goyles · alternative goyal

1. A ravine or other depression.

   They likewise passed into the deep goyle, where I could not see them, and then, almost immediately, the chorus ceased, nor for some minutes did I hear another sound.

   1921, Littell's Living Age, page 738

   5 more examples

   Into a deep goyle they plunge, and then up the far side to where a ploughman has halted his team that he may watch the sport. There the hounds come to a check suddenly.

   1895, Oswald Crawfurd, A Year of Sport and Natural History: Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Falconry and Fishing with Chapters on Birds of Prey, the Nidification of Birds and the Habits of British Wild Birds and Animals, page 16

   Swerving from his course, he went crashing down the slope, like a boulder discharged from the crag above, sprang headlong into the water, and disappeared into a narrow deep goyle through which the river ran.

   1922, The National Review

   Before the brook flows past Pitminster Church, it passes through a deep goyle. Here it is crossed by a footpath leading from Woodram to the village of Blagdon Hill. The path is carried across the goyle on a wooden bridge.

   1939, Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset ...

   Following survey it was decided that elimination of the bend at Rushycombe would involve culverting and filling in a deep goyle, [and] that the filling for this job could be obtained from Telegraph Hill.

   1958, Roads and Road Construction: A Monthly Record of Road Engineering and Development

   The scene was very animated and interesting to watch but the effort of trying to make sense of so much confusion was exhausting and, from time to time, I turned away and deliberately lost myself in the deep goyle that ran down to the cove ...

   1967, Ronald Frederick Delderfield, Cheap Day Return