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Water   /wˈɔtər/   Listen
noun
Water  n.  
1.
The fluid which descends from the clouds in rain, and which forms rivers, lakes, seas, etc. "We will drink water." "Powers of fire, air, water, and earth." Note: Pure water consists of hydrogen and oxygen, H2O, and is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, transparent liquid, which is very slightly compressible. At its maximum density, 39° Fahr. or 4° C., it is the standard for specific gravities, one cubic centimeter weighing one gram. It freezes at 32° Fahr. or 0° C. and boils at 212° Fahr. or 100° C. (see Ice, Steam). It is the most important natural solvent, and is frequently impregnated with foreign matter which is mostly removed by distillation; hence, rain water is nearly pure. It is an important ingredient in the tissue of animals and plants, the human body containing about two thirds its weight of water.
2.
A body of water, standing or flowing; a lake, river, or other collection of water. "Remembering he had passed over a small water a poor scholar when first coming to the university, he kneeled."
3.
Any liquid secretion, humor, or the like, resembling water; esp., the urine.
4.
(Pharm.) A solution in water of a gaseous or readily volatile substance; as, ammonia water.
5.
The limpidity and luster of a precious stone, especially a diamond; as, a diamond of the first water, that is, perfectly pure and transparent. Hence, of the first water, that is, of the first excellence.
6.
A wavy, lustrous pattern or decoration such as is imparted to linen, silk, metals, etc. See Water, v. t., 3, Damask, v. t., and Damaskeen.
7.
An addition to the shares representing the capital of a stock company so that the aggregate par value of the shares is increased while their value for investment is diminished, or "diluted." (Brokers' Cant) Note: Water is often used adjectively and in the formation of many self-explaining compounds; as, water drainage; water gauge, or water-gauge; waterfowl, water-fowl, or water fowl; water-beaten; water-borne, water-circled, water-girdled, water-rocked, etc.
Hard water. See under Hard.
Inch of water, a unit of measure of quantity of water, being the quantity which will flow through an orifice one inch square, or a circular orifice one inch in diameter, in a vertical surface, under a stated constant head; also called miner's inch, and water inch. The shape of the orifice and the head vary in different localities. In the Western United States, for hydraulic mining, the standard aperture is square and the head from 4 to 9 inches above its center. In Europe, for experimental hydraulics, the orifice is usually round and the head from 1/12 of an inch to 1 inch above its top.
Mineral water, waters which are so impregnated with foreign ingredients, such as gaseous, sulphureous, and saline substances, as to give them medicinal properties, or a particular flavor or temperature.
Soft water, water not impregnated with lime or mineral salts.
To hold water. See under Hold, v. t.
To keep one's head above water, to keep afloat; fig., to avoid failure or sinking in the struggles of life. (Colloq.)
To make water.
(a)
To pass urine.
(b)
(Naut.) To admit water; to leak.
Water of crystallization (Chem.), the water combined with many salts in their crystalline form. This water is loosely, but, nevertheless, chemically, combined, for it is held in fixed and definite amount for each substance containing it. Thus, while pure copper sulphate, CuSO4, is a white amorphous substance, blue vitriol, the crystallized form, CuSO4.5H2O, contains five molecules of water of crystallization.
Water on the brain (Med.), hydrocephalus.
Water on the chest (Med.), hydrothorax. Note: Other phrases, in which water occurs as the first element, will be found in alphabetical order in the Vocabulary.


verb
Water  v. t.  (past & past part. watered; pres. part. watering)  
1.
To wet or supply with water; to moisten; to overflow with water; to irrigate; as, to water land; to water flowers. "With tears watering the ground." "Men whose lives gilded on like rivers that water the woodlands."
2.
To supply with water for drink; to cause or allow to drink; as, to water cattle and horses.
3.
To wet and calender, as cloth, so as to impart to it a lustrous appearance in wavy lines; to diversify with wavelike lines; as, to water silk. Cf. Water, n., 6.
4.
To add water to (anything), thereby extending the quantity or bulk while reducing the strength or quality; to extend; to dilute; to weaken.
To water stock, to increase the capital stock of a company by issuing new stock, thus diminishing the value of the individual shares. Cf. Water, n., 7. (Brokers' Cant)


Water  v. i.  
1.
To shed, secrete, or fill with, water or liquid matter; as, his eyes began to water. "If thine eyes can water for his death."
2.
To get or take in water; as, the ship put into port to water.
The mouth waters, a phrase denoting that a person or animal has a longing desire for something, since the sight of food often causes one who is hungry to have an increased flow of saliva.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Water" Quotes from Famous Books



... quiet stretches of water he saw the place—a small cove and a green, tree-clad bank, with the gorge rising behind. Handling his canoe with greatest care he slanted toward it. A moment later he had caught the brush at the water's edge, stepped off into shallow water, and was drawing the canoe ...
— The Sky Line of Spruce • Edison Marshall
... like turning from the world to the kingdom of God: all is religious fervor, humanitarian purpose. Here again the activity is multiple but the dominant spirit is that of militant Christianity. Outside of the Novel, Kingsley has left in "Water Babies" a book deserving the name of modern classic, unless the phrase be a contradiction in terms. "Alton Locke," read to-day, is felt to be too much the tract to bear favorable comparison with Eliot's "Felix Holt"; but it has literary power and noble sincerity. Kingsley is one ...
— Masters of the English Novel - A Study Of Principles And Personalities • Richard Burton
... physician's opinions, her mirror also, grieved her far less than the inexorable warnings which the society of the courtiers afforded, who, like rats in a ship, abandon the hold into which on the very next voyage the water will infallibly penetrate, owing to the ravages of decay. Anne of Austria did not feel satisfied with the time her eldest son devoted to her. The king, a good son, more from affectation than from affection, had at ...
— Ten Years Later • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... Take days for repetition, stretch your hands For mocked renewal of familiar things: The beaten path, the chair beside the window, The crowded street, the task, the accustomed sleep, And waking to the task, or many springs Of lifted cloud, blue water, flowering fields— The prison-house grows close no less, the feast A place of memory sick for senses dulled Down to the dusty end where pitiful Time Grown weary ...
— A Treasury of War Poetry - British and American Poems of the World War 1914-1917 • Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George Herbert Clarke
... singularly enough, almost cheek by jowl with the hungry wild beasts of the Jardin des Plantes, whose mouths fairly watered at the sight of their natural prey. If you followed the quays of the Seine you there found sightseers gazing at the little gunboats and floating batteries on the water; and if you climbed to Montmartre you there came upon people watching "The Neptune," the captive balloon which Nadar, the aeronaut and photographer, had already provided for purposes of military observation. I shall have occasion to speak of him ...
— My Days of Adventure - The Fall of France, 1870-71 • Ernest Alfred Vizetelly


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