Gulf

[Fr. golfe; Gr. kolpos, bosom or bay.] ( Geog.) An arm or portion of the sea extending into the land; a bay; the latter name being more generally applied to deep indentations of the land whose opening towards the ocean is as wide as any part of the inlet, whereas gulfs have narrow entrances. Of all gulfs, the Gulf of Mexico is the most complete and characteristic. (See MEXICO, GULF OF.) It is the most nearly enclosed, as well as the largest. The Persian gulf is large, and very nearly enclosed, lying between Arabia and Persia, and receiving the waters of the Euphrates. The Gulf of Siam is much more open. -An aby ; a deep place in the earth. -A whirlpool. Any thing insatiable. --Shaks. Gulf Mills, in Pennsylvania, a post-office of Montgomery co. Gulf Stream. (Phys. Geog.) A remarkable current of the Atlantic Ocean, which comes out of the Gulf of Mexico, between the islands off the coast and the peninsula of Florida, and thence within the Bahama bank, parallel to the American coast, until it meets the St. George's and Nantucket banks, when its course is de flected eastwards. After pa ing the southern extremity of the great bank of Newfoundland, it runs in the same direction to about 38° W. longitude, within the parallels of 35° and 43° N. At this point the main stream turns to the S.E. and S. as far as the Azores, after which it is lost. But although the main stream is thus deflected, its influence extends much farther. Portions of it reach to Iceland, and wash the shores of the British Islands, where tropical fruits have been sometimes landed; and there can be no doubt that the permanent influence of this current has produced the genial climate of Western Europe, as compared with the climate in corresponding latitudes on the W. coast of the Atlantic, or on either coast of the Pacific. The whole range of the G. S. is estimated at about 3,000 m. in ordinary years. It occupies about 78 days in its progre , the average rate of motion per hour being thus a little more than a mile and a half. The velocity, however, varies greatly, being as much as five m. an hour as it i ues from the gulf of Florida, and not more than ten m. per day near the Azores. The temperature varies, but the G. S. is everywhere warmer than the proper temperature of the ocean at that point. As it comes out into the Atlantic, it is from 86° to 890 Fahr., and is only reduced to 84° when it has travelled ten degrees latitude. After that, as it cro es the At lantic, it cools steadily, but always retains a part of its initial heat, and is constantly warmer than the ocean adjacent. The warm moist air over this current of hot water, when it is cro ed by cold currents coming from the icy regions of the N., is at once converted into mist, and thus the course of the stream is in some parts marked by clouds and rain. Parts of the G. S., nearer the American coast than the European, are sometimes actually cro ed by icebergs, proving that the warm current is comparatively superficial, and that a cold current sets at right angles to the direction of the stream, near enough to the surface to govern the course taken by the larger and deeper icebergs. Gulf Sum'mit, in New York, a P. O. of Broome co. Gulf-weed, n. See SARGASSUM.