Water sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Water sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Water sb. Forms: 1–3 wæter, 2–5 weter, 3 Orm. waterr, (pl. wattress), 3–5 watre, 4 Sc. valtir, vatter, vatyr, (pl. wateren), 4–5 watere, wattre, watur, -yr, 4–6 watir, 4, 6 Sc. vattir, 4–7 chiefly Sc. watter, -ir, 4–7 Sc. walter, 5 vatur, wature, -yre, wadyr, Sc. wattyr, 5–6 Sc. waltir, vater, 6 watier, Sc. wattar, valter, 8–9 Anglo-Ir. wather, 9 dial. waater, waiter, wetter, 2– water. [Com. Teut.: OE. wæter neut. corresponds to OFris. watar, watir, weter, etc., OS. watar (MLG., LG., Du. water), OHG. waʓʓar, waʓar (MHG. waʓʓer, mod.G. wasser):—OTeut. *watar-; a parallel formation with n instead of r occurs in Goth. watō neut. (genit. watins), ON. vatn neut. (Norw. vatn, Sw. vatten, Da. vand). The Indogermanic root *wod- (Teut. *wat-) occurs in OSl., Russ. voda water; the ablaut-variant *wēd- (Teut. *wǣt-) is represented in WET a.; the ablaut-variant *ud- (Teut. *ut-) is found more widely: cf. Skr. udán, Gr. ὔδωρ (genit. ὔδατος:—*udntos), Lith. undŭ (also vanaŭ), Prussian unds, undo, Umbrian utur, water, L. unda wave; also the derivatives with the sense ‘water-animal’ (see OTTER).]

1   I.  The liquid of which seas, lakes and rivers are composed, and which falls as rain and issues from springs. When pure, it is transparent, colorless (except as seen in large quantity, when it has a blue tint), tasteless and inodorous.

2   Popular language recognizes kinds of ‘water’ that have not all these negative properties; but (even apart from any scientific knowledge) it has usually been more or less clearly understood that these are really mixtures of water with other substances.

3   1.  gen.

4 c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., 309. Onsend Ladzarus, ðætte he ʓewæte his ytemestan finger on wættre.

5 c. 1050.  Suppl. Ælfric’s Gloss., 177/30, 31. Aqua, wæter. Limpha, hluttor wæter.

6 c. 1200.  Ormin, 14038. Crist badd tatt teȝȝ sholldenn gan & fillenn þeȝȝre fetless Wiþþ waterr.

7 1551.  T. Wilson, Logic, F ij. Water is made whot, here we see that it chaunceth to water (contrary to her nature) to be warme, and therefore it is called chaunceable.

8 1625.  N. Carpenter, Geogr. Del., I. I. (1635), 9. Water being no other than a thin and fluid body;—must needs require a hard and solid body, whereon to support it selfe.

9 1752.  Hume, Polit. Disc., v. (ed. 2), 83. All water, wherever it communicates, remains always at a level.

10 1756.  Burke, Subl. & B., IV. xxi. Water, when simple, is insipid, inodorous, colourless, and smooth.

11 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., II. 121. Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

12 1813.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), i. 16. Water is raised from the ocean diffused through the air and poured down upon the soil.

13 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 145. Water will pass through the pores of gold rather than suffer compression, and appears to be nearly inelastic.

14 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lviii. As drop by drop the water falls in vaults and catacombs.

15   b.  With various qualifying words, denoting kinds of water distinguished by their properties or origin: see ICE-WATER, RAIN-WATER, RIVER-WATER, SALT WATER, SEA-WATER, SNOW-WATER, SPRING-WATER, SWEET WATER; COLD WATER, HOT WATER, WARM WATER; also FRESH a. 5, HARD a. 14 a, SOFT a. 25 a.

16   c.  Considered as antagonistic to fire.

17 1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 266. For as the water of a welle Of fyr abateth the malice, Riht so [etc.].

18 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 10. Foule water as soone as fayre, will quenche hot fyre.

19 1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 56. Me thinkes King Richard and my selfe should meet With no lesse terror then the Elements Of Fire and Water, when their thundring smoake At meeting teares the cloudie Cheekes of Heauen.

20 1879.  Encycl. Brit., IX. 235/2. In coping with fires, water is the great agent employed.

21   fig.  1682.  Bunyan, Greatn. Soul (1691), 3. This kind of Language tends to cast Water upon weak and beginning Desires.

22   d.  As supplied for domestic needs, esp. as conveyed by a channel or conduit from the source, and distributed through pipes to the houses of a district. Phrases, to cut off, turn on the water.

23 1535.  Coverdale, 2 Kings xx. 20. The pole and water condyte, wherby he conueyed water in to the cite.

24 1596.  Harington, Metam. Ajax, H 2 b. At Shaftsburie, where water is deerest of anis towne I know.

25 1653.  J. Nicoll, Diary (Bannatyne Club), 105. Lytill watter could be fund, bot the pepill of Edinburgh wer forcit to bring thair watter from far.

26 1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Parish, i. The turn-cock having turned on the water. Ibid. (1836), Shops & Tenants. At last the company’s man came to cut off the water.

27   e.  As used for motive power.

28 1698.  Floyer, Asthma (1717), To Rdr. p. xxv. Like a Mill which stands still for want of Water.

29   f.  In various similative and figurative phrases, many of which are of biblical origin: see, e.g., Gen. xlix. 4, Jos. vii. 5, 2 Sam. xiv. 14, Ps. lxxix. 3. To write on or in water [= L. in aqua scribere, Gr. γράφειν εἰς ὔδωρ]: to fail to leave abiding record of (something). (To spend money) like water: profusely, recklessly. † To put water in (a person’s) worts: to make things unpleasant for him. † Water in one’s shoes: something disagreeable. † To hold out water, to bear water: = ‘to hold water’ (fig.): see HOLD v. 32. † Where the water sticks (after L. hæret aqua]: where discussion comes to a standstill.

30 971.  Blickl. Hom., 237. Maneʓa tintreʓa hie þe onbringað … swa þætte þin blod flewþ ofer eorðan swa swa wæter.

31 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 852. The blood out of the wounde as brode sterte As water, whan the conduit broken is.

32 1544.  Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 28. I found my good bowe … as weake as water.

33 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 32. It is, to geue him, as muche almes or neede As cast water in tems.

34 1579.  Gosson, Apol. Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 64. They haue … threatned highly, too put water in my woortes, whensoeuer they catche me.

35 1604.  Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 134. She was false as water.

36 1608.  Dekker, Lanth. & Candle Lt., viii. G 5. Yet they have a tricke (like water cut with a swoord) to come together instantly and easily againe.

37 1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, V. iii. All your better deeds Shall be in water writ, but this in Marble.

38 1612.  Pasquil’s Night-Cap (1877), 38. No, this deuice too much in vse is growne, And will not hold out water to the last.

39 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. ii. 46. Mens euill manners liue in Brasse, their Vertues We write in Water.

40 1655.  Bramhall, Def. True Liberty, 20. This is the very question where the water sticks between us [sc. between Hobbes and Bramhall].

41 1697.  Tryon, Way to Health, vi. 93. Though it be a vulgar Proverb—As weak as Water.

42 1704.  N. N., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. 59. But I must beg leave to tell you, this Excuse will not bear Water.

43 1728.  W. Smith, Univ. College, 185. And upon that Fear and Conviction that his Cause could not bear Water.

44 a. 1734.  R. North, Life Ld. Kpr. Guilford (1742), 151. They caressed his Lordship very much as a new Comer,… and talked about a Time to dine with him; all which (as they say) was Water in his Shoes.

45 1824.  Compl. Hist. Murder Mr. Weare, 231. The organ of destructiveness was not at all prominent or developed. This was ‘water in the shoes’ of the phrenologists.

46 1831.  S. Warren, Diary Late Physic., xxii. (1832), II. 247. He [a cabin-boy] was frequently flogged … till the blood ran down his back like water.

47 1859.  Dickens, etc., Haunted Ho., v. 24/1. The sweat poured off my face like water.

48 1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xx. (end). And the hearts of all the French were turned to water; and the land had peace from its tyrants for many days. Ibid. (1871), Lett., etc. (1877), II. 368. All else is a ‘paralogism’ and runs off them like water off a duck’s back.

49 1898.  S. J. Weyman, Shrewsbury, xiii. 116. Though at one time my heart was water when I thought of betraying him, at another it glowed with rage and loathing.

50   2.  As a drink, as satisfying thirst, or as necessary aliment for animals and plants. Also fig. (chiefly in biblical uses) applied to what satisfies spiritual needs or desires; cf. WATER OF LIFE.

51   Bread and water (also in Shaks. † bran and water), the type of extreme hard fare, as of a prisoner or a penitent.

52 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John iv. 13. Eʓhuelc seðe ʓedrincað of ðæm uætre þæt ic sello him ne ðyrsteð in æcnisse.

53 a. 1000.  Colloq. Ælfric, in Wr.-Wülcker, 102. Hwæt drincst þu? Eala, ʓif ic hæbbe, oþþe wæter ʓif ic næbbe ealu.

54 a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 43. Leuere him [sc. Daniel] was … ðat water to drinken ðanne … ðe gode wines.

55 c. 1200.  Ormin, 3212. Hiss drinnch wass waterr aȝȝ occ aȝȝ, Hiss mete wilde rotess.

56 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1246. Ðor ȝhe gan fremen ysmael Wið watres drinc and bredes mel.

57 1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 81. Howse calfe, and go sockle it twise in a day, and after a while, set it water and hay.

58 1580.  Memorial W. Lambe, C iij b. Whose daily custome it was to meditate vpon a Praier booke, called The Conduit of Comfort,… that with the water thereof his soule … might be refreshed.

59 1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 303. You shall fast a Weeke with Branne and water. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., IV. iii. 159. I am faine to dine and sup with water and bran.

60 1611.  Bible, Isa. xli. 17. When the poore and needie seeke water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will heare them.

61 1656.  R. Short, Drinking Water, 68. Why then should we (like so many Don Quixotes) change our national drink for water?

62 1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Guidonia, During the Winter-season they should have but little Water.

63 1749.  Smollett, Gil Blas, I. xii. To regale myself still with my bread and water, and the sight of a silent turnkey.

64 1759.  R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, 13. Give the horse a ball in his water.

65 1842.  Loudon, Suburb. Horticult., 386. When plants are ripening their fruit, a diminished supply of water increases the flavour.

66 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 833. One essential requisite in all pasture-fields is an abundant supply of water for stock to drink.

67 1865.  Mrs. Whitney, Gayworthys, xxxvi. She fell back, trembling, against her chair. Mr. Brinley brought her hastily some water.

68 1921.  E. L. Masters, Mitch Miller, xiv. 112–3. After that they made him pray, and put him in a dark room and kept him on bread and water for a day.

69   b.  Contrasted with wine, as inferior in strength or pleasantness.

70 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21295. Þe stile o matheu, water it was, And win þe letter o lucas.

71 1842.  Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 152. Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, match’d with mine, Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine.

72   c.  Water bewitched (colloq.): used derisively for excessively diluted liquor; now chiefly, very weak tea.

73 1678.  Ray, Prov. (ed. 2), 84. Water betwitch’t, i. e. very thin beer.

74 1694.  [see BEWITCHED].

75 1699.  T. Brown, L’Estrange’s Colloq. of Erasm., Add. v. 53. The Broth was nothing in the world but Water bewitched [L. mera aqua], if it deserved so good a Name.

76 1731–8.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., i. 24. Your Ladyship is very sparing of your Tea: I protest, the last I took, was no more than Water bewitch’d.

77 a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Water-bewitched, weak tea, coffee, punch, &c.

78   fig.  1845.  Carlyle, Cromwell, Introd. ii. I. 25. Another Book of Noble’s … is of much more stupid character; nearly meaningless indeed; mere water bewitched.

79   3.  As used for dilution of liquors.

80 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. i. 22. Thi syluer is turned in to dros; thi wyn is mengd with water.

81 1731–8.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., ii. 165. Lady Smart. I was told, ours [sc. ale] was very strong. Sir John. Ay, Madam, strong of the Water.

82 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxviii. Mr. Benjamin Allen … produced … a black bottle half full of brandy. ‘You don’t take water, of course?’ said Bob Sawyer.

83   fig.  1860.  Ld. Acron in Gasquet, Acton & Circle (1906), 149. I am afraid you will think I have poured a good deal of water into your wine in ‘Tyrol’ and ‘Syria.’

84   b.  In phrasal combinations denoting liquors diluted with water, as brandy-and-water, gin-and-water, rum-and-water, whisky-and-water, wine-and-water: see the first words; also MILK-AND-WATER. Hence jocularly in nonce-combinations.

85 1882.  Mrs. Oliphant, Lit. Hist. Eng., I. 168. The weak Addison-and-water of the ‘Mirror’ and the ‘Lounger.’

86 1899.  Daily News, 13 March, 7/1. He once heard a University sermon described as of the Bible and water order.

87   c.  fig. (Stock Exchange.) Fictitious capital created by the ‘watering’ or ‘diluting’ of the stock of a trading company. See WATER v. 7 c.

88 1883.  Nation (N. Y.), 8 Nov., 384/2. The Committee does not produce any evidence to show that it is the dread of ‘water’ which is now keeping the foreign investor out of Wall Street.

89 1894.  Daily News, 12 July, 5/5. The stock of the Company has been watered three times over, and the Company has not only been able to pay the regular dividends on the water and all, but [etc.].

90   4.  As used for washing, steeping, boiling, etc.

91 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 24. Ða ʓeseah pilatus þæt hyt naht ne fremode … þa ʓenam he wæter & þwoh hys handa.

92 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 20212. Scho … wessh hir suet bodi in water.

93 c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 1424. & with his teris wysche þam sone as quha with vattir suld þam don.

94 c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet (prose), liii. 35. Þabbesse sal giue þe gestis water til þaire hende.

95 c. 1430.  Two Cookery-bks., 13. Take Vele, Kyde, or Henne, an boyle hem in fayre Water, or ellys in freysshe brothe.

96 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 35 b. Lupines … being sodden and layd in water … feedeth Oxen in Winter very well.

97 1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 46. Goe get some Water, And wash this filthie Witnesse from your Hand.

98 1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 15. So incredibly extravagant is be sometimes, as to wash his Cabin with fresh Water, when the Ship’s Company want it to allay the burning Heat of their salt Victuals.

99 1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, Chron. Canongate, Ser. II. Introd. These are the stains;… neither water nor any thing else will ever remove them from that spot.

100   b.  Each of the quantities of water used successively in a gradual process of washing.

101 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 324. Wule a weob beon, et one cherre, mid one watere wel ibleched…?

102 1684.  J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 149. Feeding him [your hawk] upon the flesh of Rooks, washed in two waters.

103 a. 1777.  in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1914), Oct., 187. Take half a pound of sagoe, and wash it well in 3 or 4 hot waters.

104 1856.  Kane, Arctic Expl., II. ix. 94. Butter … my own invention, melted from salt beef and washed in many waters.

105 1875.  F. J. Bird, Dyer’s Hand-bk., 33. Wash in two waters and dry.

106   c.  in references to baptism.

107 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. iii. 11. Ic cow fulliʓe on wætere to dædbote.

108 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19976. Qua mai for-bede Water at baptim.

109 1387.  [see COLD WATER b.].

110 1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 14. Quhen Goddis word with watter Junit be, Throw Faith, to gif vs lyfe Eternallie.

111 1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lx. § 1. Why are we taught that with water God doth purifie and clense his Church.

112   5.  Water of a mineral spring or a collection of mineral springs used medicinally for bathing or for drinking, or both. Often plural (cf. L. aquæ) preceded by the or the name of a place. To go to the waters (? obs.): to visit a ‘watering-place’ for remedial treatment.

113 1542–3.  Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 8. Divers honest persones … whome God hathe endued with the knowledge of the nature kinde and operacion of certeyne herbes rotes and waters.

114 1561.  Gresham, in Burgon, Life (1839), I. 122. Sir John a Leye ys not yett come from the water of Spawe.

115 1563.  Fulke, Meteors, IV. (1571), 57 b. Of whote bathes. Some waters that are generated and flowe out of vaynes of brymstone, are sensybly warme, and some very whott…. These waters being also drying by nature, are wholsome for many infyrmities.

116 1641.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 207. Waters have twice donn her good and Spaw water is better than the best waters in England.

117 1652.  J. French, York-sh. Spaw, 85. I approve not of taking the waters too fast.

118 1676.  Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 29. Lady Portsmouth continues sicke, and some say she will try the French ayre, others the Bath watters.

119 1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 284, ¶ 4. Though I have drunk the Waters, and am told I ought not to use my Eyes so much, I cannot forbear writing to you.

120 1720.  Wilcocks, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. IV. 321. Since the kings return from the waters, which agreed very well with him, we have had [etc.].

121 1775.  Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, I. i. She was such a hand at making foreign waters! for Seltzer, Pyrmont, Islington, or Chalybeate, she never had her equal.

122 1788.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 453. He has obtained leave to go to the waters.

123 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxv. Most welcome to Ba-ath, sir. It is long—very long, Mr. Pickwick, since you drank the waters.

124 1854.  Surtees, Handley Cr., iii. (1901), I. 19. It was well known their waters were immeasurably inferior to what they enjoyed, not only in sulphuretted hydrogen, but also in iodine and potash.

125 1879.  St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 579. She was ordered simply a wine-glass of Orezza water after breakfast every morning.

126   6.  Water regarded as collected in seas, lakes, ponds, etc., or as flowing in rivers or streams.

127   Often with definite article, as denoting a particular portion of water referred to. Also, the aqueous part of the earth’s surface as a region inhabited by its own characteristic forms of life, in contradistinction to the land and the air.

128   For piece, sheet of water, see PIECE sb. 3, SHEET sb.1 8 a.

129 a. 1100.  Gerefa, in Anglia, IX. 259. Ʒe on wuda, ʓe on wætere, ʓe on felda, ʓe on falde.

130 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 79. Þe uisces iþe wetere and fuȝeles iþe lufte.

131 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2968. And aaron held up his hond, to ðe water and ðe more lond.

132 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 399. Þe fiss to watur, als we find, þe fuxol be-taght he to þe wynd.

133 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 189. Alle þat lyf hath a londe & a watre.

134 1473.  Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 178. Tha sal gif al possibil cure and laubour til hald furth the watter with makyn of perys … and plantation of willeis.

135 1508.  Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 66. Dame Nature gaif ane inhibitioun thair To ferss Neptunus, and Eolus the bawld, Nocht to perturb the wattir nor the air.

136 1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 117. Wash sheepe (for the better) where water doth run.

137 1605.  Shaks., Macb., I. iii. 79. The Earth hath bubbles, as the Water ha’s.

138 1781.  Cowper, Task, III. 382. But wisdom is a pearl with most success Sought in still water.

139 1830.  Tennyson, Arab. Nts., 30. Deep inlay Of braided blooms unmown, which crept Adown to where the water slept.

140 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 481. The water in the bay was as even as glass.

141 1867.  Ansted, Phys. Geog., 125. Owing to the position of the land, we have the water divided into two unequal parts, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic canal.

142   b.  The plural is often used instead of the sing. esp. with reference to flowing water or to water moving in waves.

143   For the pl. cf. F. eaux, L. aquæ, Gr. ὔδατα.

144 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xiv. 28. Dryhten, ʓyf þu hyt eart, hat me cuman to þe ofer þas wæteru.

145 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 380. Þe watters al he cald þe see.

146 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 437. Þen he wakened a wynde on watterez to blowe.

147 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., V. met. i. (1868), 152. Sone aftre þe same ryueres tigris and eufrates vnioygnen and departen hire watres.

148 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxvii. 19. Thy waye was in the see, and thy pathes in the great waters.

149 1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 1. If by your Art (my dearest father) you haue Put the wild waters in this Rore, allay them.

150 1684.  J. Peter, Relat. Siege Vienna, 55. About this time the Waters of the Danube swelled so high as to break down the Bridge which the Enemy had made.

151 1697.  Dryden, Æneis, IX. 152. Old Tyber roar’d; and raising up his Head, Call’d back his Waters to their Oozy Bed.

152 a. 1774.  Goldsm., Hist. Greece, II. 174. A river not so remarkable for the breadth of its channel, as for the beauty of its waters.

153 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., V. 324. Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag, A river steep and wide.

154 1803–6.  Wordsw., Ode, Intim. Immort., 171. And see the Children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.

155 1842.  Borrow, Bible in Spain, xxiv. Waters sounded, nightingales sang.

156 1862.  Longf., Wayside Inn, I. Prel. 260. The cataract hurled Its headlong waters from the height.

157 1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xiii. They … had been baptised in the waters of their native river.

158   c.  In figurative context. (See also TROUBLED a. 1, FISH v.1 1 c, OIL sb.1 3 e.)

159   Deep waters (after Ps. lxix. 2, 14), grave distresses and anxieties; also, difficult or dangerous affairs.

160 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxviii. [lxix]. 2. I am come in to depe waters [so also 1611]. Ibid., 14.

161 1628.  A. Leighton, Appeal to Parlt., 19. Therfore she loves to fish in troubled Waters.

162 1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, I. iii. § 8. Joseph Scaliger who hath troubled the waters so much concerning the particular circumstances of this translation, yet fully agrees that it was done in the time of Ptolomæus Philadelphus.

163 c. 1720.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 20. The Cardinal … was … not on very good terms with the queen, but willing to keep smooth water there.

164 1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, iii. These are deep waters…. Be cautious and think twice.

165 1902.  W. Adamson, Life Joseph Parker, 204. An unwonted interest was created by Dr. Parker’s visit. The usually quiet ecclesiastical waters were stirred.

166   d.  pl. The maritime tract belonging to a particular nation; the seas and oceans in a particular quarter of the globe.

167 1659.  in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878), III. 487. Who … went aboard of tuo Dutch wessellis lying near Inchkeyth, being within our watteris.

168 1920.  Round Table, Dec., 89. The Alliance … freed us from the necessity of keeping more than a skeleton force in eastern waters in order to defend the Dominions and India.

169   e.  Hunting, Steeplechasing, etc. Streams or ditches which a horse is required to leap.

170 1860.  Ld. W. Lennox, Pict. Sporting Life, I. 328. You will find him [a horse] a splendid fencer, I never saw the like of him at timber or water; no gate or brook will stop him.

171 1869.  Whyte-Melville, Songs & Verses, 87. Hunters so limber at water and timber Now on the causeway are fain to be led.

172 1879.  Punch, 13 Dec., 267. I’ve never tried this horse at water.

173   f.  slang. To make a hole in the water: to commit suicide by drowning.

174 1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., xlvi. Why I don’t go and make a hole in the water I don’t know. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., I. iii. This is the drunken old chap … wot had offered … to make a hole in the water for a quartern of rum stood aforehand, and kept to his word for the first and last time in his life.

175   † g.  pl. Pictorial representations of tracts of water. Obs.

176 1747.  Francis, trans. Horace, Art P., 34, note. It is chiefly in this View, that Ruisdale’s Waters, and Claude Lorrain’s Skies are so admirable.

177   7.  In phrases relating to navigation.

178   a.  By water: by ship or boat on the sea or a lake or river or canal. (In OE. = 7 b.)

179 c. 1100.  O. E. Chron. (MS. D), an. 1016. Þa ʓewende se here to Lundenne, & þa buruh utan ymbesæton, & hyre stearclice onfeaht, æʓðær ʓe be wætere ʓe be lande.

180 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 23. Þei traueilen nyȝt & day, bi watir & lond, in cold & in hete.

181 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 400. If þat he faught, and hadde the hyer hond, By water he sente hem hoom to euery lond.

182 1478.  W. Paston, Jr. in P. Lett. (1897), III. 237. And if it lyke yow that I may come with Alwedyr be watyr.

183 1547–8.  in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 29. The Caring by water to and from grenwy[ch].

184 1606.  Arraignm. Late Traitors (1872), 6. They went from the tower by water, and came to Westminster.

185 1661.  Pr. Rupert, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 8. My goods goe by Ratisbon, soe by land to Wurtzbourg, and from thence by water the rest of the journey.

186 1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., 4 July (1815), 219. In going down the river, by water, he was by mistake put on board of another vessel under sail.

187 1809.  W. Irving, Knickerb., VII. xi. (1849), 437. The hostile ships prepared for an assault by water.

188 1864.  T. S. Williams & Simmonds, Engl. Commerc. Corresp., 116. You will please to receive the said goods, and forward them to us by water.

189 1886.  C. Scholl, Phraseol. Dict., II. 834. Conveyance is, in this case, cheaper by water than by rail.

190   b.  On or upon (the) water (ME. † a wætere): on the sea, in naval employments or enterprises. Also, To be on the water, to be in course of transport by sea.

191 c. 1205.  Lay., 562. I seih his broðer ferden hu heo iuaren weren a wætere & a londe.

192 1412–20.  Lydg., Troy Bk., IV. 1997. So þat victorie, worship, and honour,… To be reported on water & on lond, Reserued ben hooly to ȝoure hond.

193 1758.  J. Blake, Mar. Syst., 28. Great numbers of men … are employed in the coasting trade, or otherwise upon the water.

194 1914.  Daily News, 6 Aug., 5. There is a very large quantity [of tea] on the water on its way from the East.

195 1914.  Scotsman, 24 Aug., 4/2. Germany has to-day another enemy in the field and on the water.

196   c.  In expressions like across, over, on this side the water, to cross the water, the reference is most commonly to the sea.

197   The Jacobite toast, ‘the king over the water,’ meaning the Pretender, was expressed by passing the glass of wine over the water decanter when drinking the health of ‘the king.’

198 1662.  Chas. II., in Cartwright, Madame (Henrietta of Orleans) (1893), 128. People on this side the watter love there profit as well as they do every where else.

199 1680.  Alsop, Mischief of Impos., v. 31. We may be Schismaticks here in England, when, if we cross the water, we shall be none.

200 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. iv. From these meals she retired about five minutes after the other servants, having only stayed to drink the king over the water.

201 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 234. As your work is in such high reputation on this side of the water, it is a matter of great surprise to me, that you should not have many correspondents amongst such of our Irish gentlemen as are improving their estates.

202 1842.  Dickens, Amer. Notes, xviii. Those partial readers of my former books, across the Water, who met me with an open hand.

203 1901.  Essex Weekly News, 15 March, 3/3. At Chelmsford the mare would fetch £4 because it was going across the water to be made into meat extract.

204 1905.  H. G. Wells, Kipps, II. i. § 1. Coote remarked that the sea was good for crossing, and asked Kipps if he had been over the water much.

205 1914.  Q. Rev., April, 318. The world, as we on our side of the water mainly know it.

206   d.  In London the above phrases are often used with reference to the Thames. Similarly (to go) on the water.

207 1600.  Essex Reb. Exam. (MS.), in Shaks. Cent. Praise (1879), 35. They went all together to the Globe over the water wher the L. Chamberlens men vse to play.

208 1731–8.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., i. 46. I promis’d to go this Evening to Hyde-Park on the Water; but I protest, I’m half afraid.

209 1753.  Jane Collier, Art Torment., I. i. (1811), 35. To … go upon the water with you.

210 1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Shops & Tenants. It is on the Surrey side of the water—a little distance beyond the Marsh-gate. Ibid. (1853), Bleak Ho., xxi. The theatre over, Mr. George comes across the water again, and makes his way to that curious region lying about the Haymarket and Leicester Square.

211 1887.  T. A. Trollope, What I remember, I. 218. I used to be a good deal upon the water either alone or accompanied by a single friend with a pair of sculls.

212   8.  To take (the) water.

213   a.  Of an animal or waterfowl, also of a person: To enter the sea, a lake or river, and begin to swim. b. To embark, take ship; in 17–18th c. chiefly, † to take a boat on the Thames (obs.). c. U.S. ‘To abandon one’s position’ (Thornton). d. Of a ship: To be launched.

214 1580.  H. Smith, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 468. This day … there came a great white beare downe to the water side, and tooke the water of his owne accord.

215 1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 149. The sence of smelling is so quicke in these [Sluth-hounds], that they can follow the footesteps of theeus,… and if the theef take the water, they cast in themselues also.

216 a. 1676.  Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. vii. (1677), 202. As to the Water-Fowls, the difficulty is less, for they can and do supply the weariness of a long flight by taking Water.

217 1804.  Charlotte Smith, Conversat., etc. I. 27. If I was on horseback on my filly Truffle, and the dogs were to take water,… why I should no more mind plunging in directly [etc.].

218 1878.  Scribner’s Monthly, XV. 765/1. I heard a splash and saw a deer take the water 300 yards or so above me.

219 1891.  New Review, Aug., 167. I … lay to to see it take the water, as its evident intention was to cross to the mainland.

220   b.  1548.  Patten, Exped. Scot., D iij b. This thus apointed, my lorde Admirall rode back to take the water agayne.

221 1650.  Trapp, Comm. Num. xxxii. 23. Taking water, with purpose to sail into Flanders.

222 1689.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 524. A gentleman taking water the 18th, when he came near London bridge, pull’d a written paper out of his pocket.

223 1708.  Constit. Watermen’s Co., 81. None plying the Long-Ferry shall ply one about to take Water with another, except, &c.

224 a. 1754.  Carte, Hist. Eng., IV. 50. Stukely agreeing to go with him, they took water: but were seized in the way to Gravesend.

225 1793.  Regal Rambler, 91. He took water at the Temple-stairs.

226 1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xv. For see, the Queen’s barge lies at the stairs, as if her Majesty were about to take water.

227 1889.  Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentl., I. vi. 93. The boating parties that ‘took the water’ there.

228   c.  1858.  J. G. Baldwin, Flush Times, 275. ‘If it please your honor, I believe I will take water’ (a common expression, signifying that the person using it would take a nonsuit).

229 1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 470. To Take Water. To run away, make off. A Western expression, doubtless borrowed from sportsmen.

230 1891.  C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 200. The fellow, who was really a coward, though nearly twice as big as myself, took water at once.

231   d.  1901.  Scotsman, 7 March, 5/6. Launch of the cruiser Kent…. The vessel took the water without a hitch.

232   9.  Quantity or depth of water, as sufficient or insufficient for navigation. To draw (so much) water: see DRAW v. 13.

233 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., II. viii. (1867), 73. There was no more water than the ship drew.

234 1580.  H. Smith, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 469. There was not water for the boate betweene Vaigats and the other side: finding no more water, there was no other way but to goe backe as we came in.

235 1584.  R. Norman, trans. Safegard of Sailers, 7. Item, from the north Buie to the Nese, keepe the north Buie with Memelicke, as far as you can see, till you bring those two steeples or towers into one, and then you shall haue water enough.

236 1716.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5416/1. There not being Water enough, she was not launched.

237 1791.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 86. A clear passage to the South, with a sufficiency of water for the craft at low water.

238 1791.  R. Mylne, 2nd Rep. Thames, 10. Good Water from thence to Moulsford. Ibid. (1793), Rep. Thames, 35. There is a pretty good water all the way to Datchet Bridge. And from Datchet Bridge, there is a fine navigable water all the way to New-Lock-Shoal.

239   b.  With prefixed adj., a particular state of the tide: see HIGH WATER, LOW WATER. † Full water = full tide.

240 c. 1420.  ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 110. Where as I shuld haue fyllyd dykes depe At a full watyr I might nat thedyr crepe Before my seson came to retorne ayeyne.

241 1603.  Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 490/2. Cum potestate colligendi lie wraik et wair fra the full sey to the low watter.

242   10.  Water received into a boat or ship through a leak, or by the breaking of the waves over the side. To make water [= F. faire eau, It. far acqua, G. wasser machen]: (of a ship or boat) to leak, or to admit or ‘ship’ water over the side, through a port, etc. Also, to take (in) water in the same sense. † To make foul water (obs.): see FOUL a. 4.

243 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T., 363. The same harm dooth som tyme the smale dropes of water, that entren thurgh a litel creuace in to the thurrok, and in the botme of the shipe.

244 a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., III. ii. 16. It liked hir as well, to tell you no lies, As water in hir shyppe, or salt cast in hir eies.

245 1555.  Eden, Decades (Arb.), 77. The vytayles corrupted by taking water at the riftes euyll closed. Ibid., 260. One of theyr shyppes leaked and toke water very sore.

246 1748.  Anson’s Voy., I. iii. 24. The ship made so much water, that with four pumps and bailing he could not free her.

247 1799.  Hull Advertiser, 13 July, 1/4. St. Anna, leaky: made 20 inches of water in an hour.

248 1825.  New Monthly Mag., XV. 74. We found by the well that she [sc. a ship] made no water.

249 1884.  Law Times, 10 May, 26/2. She was then found to be making five inches of water per hour.

250 1890.  W. F. Rae, Maygrove, I. iv. 61. The carpenter sounded the well and found that she was making water fast.

251 1892.  Idler, April, 320. The feebleness … of her stroke … prevented the boat from taking much water.

252   † b.  To take (in) water (fig.): ? to have a flaw or weak place. Obs.

253 1590.  Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., D 2 b. The rest of his reasons haue taken water, and are rotten before they come to shore.

254 1640.  Bp. Hall, Episc., II. xx. 202. All the rest are easily freed; St. Jerome and St. Ambrose in the opinion of some seem to take in water.

255   11.  As an enveloping or covering medium. In various phrases.

256   a.  Under water: below the surface of water; (of land) flooded, submerged. Hence fig. unsuccessful in life; also (Sc.) in debt. Also Sc. † within water, in the same sense.

257 1529.  Registr. Aberdon. (Maitland Club), I. 396. To sustene … mend and uphald … þe brig forsaid … als weill within wattar as abuf.

258 1598.  Florio, Sott’acqua, vnder-water, secretlie, out of sight, in hugger mugger.

259 1660.  Boyle, New Exper. Spring of Air, 363. Cornelius Drebell … is affirm’d … to have contriv’d for the late Learned King James, a Vessel to go under Water.

260 1708.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4453/2. Our Governor has put all the Country between Bruges and Newport under Water.

261 1759.  Johnson, Idler, No. 49, ¶ 5. The country was under water.

262 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xlii. And then he got favour, and Lord Evandale’s head was under water.

263 1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., xxiv. (1842), 628. Close the tube by the finger,… then open its aperture by removing the finger under water.

264 1839.  Lockhart, Ballantyne-humbug handled, 113. Mr. James [Ballantyne] … was … many thousands under water at the smash.

265 1914.  D. Christie, 30 Yrs. in Moukden, vi. 50. Besides the submerged villages, a large part of the suburbs of Moukden was under water.

266   b.  Above water: above the surface of the water. Also fig., esp. in to keep one’s head above water, to avoid ruin by a continued struggle.

267 1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 35. To save all but our Carpenter, who was lost for want of having fasten’d on somewhat that might have kept him above water.

268 1705.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., III. Pain, 11. Unless a Man can reconcile himself to Suffering, and keep his Spirits above Water, ’tis in vain to pretend to Principles.

269 1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, III. xiii. There are many who, I fancy, believe that … my pockets … are lined with bank-bills; but I assure you, you are all mistaken…. If I can hold my head above water it is all I can.

270 1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 7. To carry me discreetly through the world, and keep my head above water.

271 1864.  Trollope, Small Ho. Allington, xxv. Modern Lotharios—men who were holding their heads well above water, although it was known that they had played this lady false, and brought that other one to death’s door.

272 1885.  Field, 3 Oct., 502/2. A number of struggling men [agriculturists], who have managed to keep above water during the bad seasons, must now go under.

273   † c.  To lay in water, to lay a-water: to make of no effect or value; to dissipate. Obs.

274 c. 1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 782. But now þe harlottes han hid thilke rewle, And, for the loue of oure lorde haue leyd hire in water.

275 1401.  Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 43. But, Jak, thouȝ thi questions semen to thee wyse, ȝit liȝtly a lewid man maye leyen hem a water.

276 1579.  Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 21. Either Apollo must haue played the Bonesetter, or euery occupation beene laide a water.

277 1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut., xcv. 579. If I lende him money nowe, it is layde a water, I loose a whole yeares occupying of it.

278 1592.  Lyly, Midas, IV. iv. All his expeditions for warres are laid in water.

279   † d.  (To swim) between two waters [= F. (nager) entre deux eaux]: midway between the surface and the bottom; fig. keeping an impartial or a temporizing attitude between two parties. Obs.

280 1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 791/2. How many are there that will swim betwixt two waters, and play the indifferent men, which wuld haue a Gospel betwixt both?

281 1603.  D. Carleton, in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), I. 28. The king held himself upright betwixt two waters.

282 1660.  F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 3. Sliding the Anchor on one side betwixt two waters.

283   12.  A body of water on the surface of the earth.

284   a.  gen. A body or collection of standing or flowing water, irrespective of size; a sea, lake, river, etc.

285 a. 1100.  in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 204. Mid wateren and mid moren.

286 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 19. Wateres he [sc. Engelond] haþ ek inouȝ, ac at uore alle oþere þre Out of þe londe in to þe se, armes as þei it be … Severne & temese; homber is þet þridde.

287 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5918. All þe waters on þis land Wex son in to blod red.

288 c. 1400.  Maundev., xiv. (1839), 126. And he schal so passe the Wature, that ys cleped the Brace of seynt George, that ys an Arm of the See.

289 1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, x. (1870), 253. Standynge waters, the whiche be refresshed with a fresshe spryng, is commendable.

290 1580.  in Lanc. & Cheshire Wills (Chetham Soc.), I. 72. I have maid a lease of my capitall and chieffe messuages in lyttle Mearley [etc.] … with th’ … waters, ffisshings, moores [etc.] … to Rauffe Tetlowe.

291 1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. ii. 84. This region is wonderfully scorched and drie; and so by consequence, hath neither waters nor pastures.

292 a. 1633.  G. Herbert, Outlandish Prov., 434. Who letts his wife goe to every feast, and his horse drinke at every water, shall neither have good wife nor good horse.

293 169[?].  Locke, Educ., § 7. Horace … assures us, he was wont in the Winter Season to bathe himself in cold Water. But perhaps Italy will be thought much warmer than England, and the chilness of their Waters not to come near ours in Winter.

294 1757.  [Burke], Europ. Settlem. Amer., VII. xxi. II. 235. Though the winters are sharp,… yet they are seldom severe enough to freeze any considerable water.

295 1828.  Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc., 195. This whirlpool [Charybdis] is an agitated water, from seventy to ninety fathoms in depth, circling in quick eddies.

296 1836.  Hugh Murray, etc., China (Edinb. Cab. Libr.), I. i. 29. Along the lower course of both these magnificent waters [the Hohang-ho and Yang-tse-kiang].

297 1843.  Penny Cycl., XXVII. 789/2. Zizania aquatica, Canadian Wild Rice,… is common in all the waters of North America from Canada to Florida.

298 1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (ed. 2), I. 279. I inquired of the guides if they would lead me to waters in that direction. They all shouted that that was the desert, and that no man ever found water there.

299 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxvii. In thy place of rest By that broad water of the west.

300 1885.  Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), II. 251. They frequent almost every variety of water, from the briny lakes of Utah and California to the clearest mountain-streams of our northern territories.

301 1898.  Edin. Rev., Jan., 192. Hundreds of the swallow family may sometimes be seen together, hawking for flies over the London waters on a fine April morning.

302   b.  A sheet of water, a lake, pool. Cf. the proper names Derwentwater, Wastwater, Ullswater, Hawes Water, etc. in n.w. England.

303 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 749. Nov ist a water of loðlic ble, Men callið it ðe dede se.

304 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 13760. A water þar es wit-in þair thede Þat es cald piscene in þair lede.

305 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 301. Crist wandride bi þe water of Galile.

306 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T. (Harl.), 841. Seint Iohan saith þat aduoutris schuln be in helle in watir [Ellesm. in a stank; F. estanc; L. stagnum] brennyng of fuyr and of brimston.

307 1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 209. The other is two pots floting upon a pond, or surface of a water with this word, If we knock together, we sink together.

308 1655.  Walton, Angler, xiii. (1661), 197. The river Dee … springs in Merionnithshire, and as it runs toward Chester, it runs through Pemble-Mere, which is a large water.

309 1756.  Amory, Buncle (1770), I. 204. A water on the top of a hill, which stood at the other end of the lake.

310 1799.  A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 27. A large lawn, a water half a mile long, a very handsome bridge over it.

311 1842.  Tennyson, Morte d’Arth., 12. On one side lay the Ocean, and on one Lay a great water, and the moon was full.

312 1896.  Housman, Shropshire Lad, xli. And like a skylit water stood The bluebells in the azured wood.

313   c.  A stream, river. In early use often the water of (prefixed to the name of a river). Now chiefly Sc. and north.; often in the names of small rivers, as Water of Esk, Water of Leith, Allan Water, Moffat Water.

314   In MHG. and in early and dial. mod.G. wasser is used for ‘river,’ often in apposition with the proper name. The frequent use in Coverdale’s Bible (where 1611 has ‘riuer’) is prob. due to the influence of Luther’s version.

315 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., John Baptist, 85. Toward þe watere of Jordan.

316 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7654. Þer hii gonne abide Bi tuene þe water of trente & of ouse al so. Ibid., 8850. Bituene tueye wateres he rerde redinge [i.e., built Reading Abbey].

317 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 10528. Þys batayle was, þurgh here boþe assent, Besyde a watyr, men calle Trent.

318 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 107. I wan to a water by schore þat scherez.

319 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, VII. 5. The kyng … held doun toward a vale, Quhar throu the vod a vattir ran.

320 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 449. A monke … fil doun of a brigge into a water, and was i-stufled.

321 1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 102. A stille water … Which hihte of Lethes the rivere.

322 1423.  Cov. Leet Bk., 46. From the watur of Schirburn, þat rennyth to Whitley vnto Hethesale.

323 1423.  in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1430, 30/2. Our fisching of the vater of Anand in al placis and be the see sid.

324 c. 1450.  Brut, II. 427. The Erle of Armynacke with the dolfynys meyne … mette with the Duke of Clarence and his meyne by this watir of Leyre.

325 1532.  Cranmer, Let. to Hen. VIII., in Misc. Writ. (Parker Soc.), II. 233. Passaw, Lyntz, and other places adjoining to the waters of Enus and Danubius.

326 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cxxxvi[i]. 1. By the waters [1611 rivers] of Babilon we sat downe and wepte. Ibid., Tobit vi. 1. Ye first night they abode by the water of Tigris [Luther bei dem Wasser Tigris].

327 1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 427. The king went up the water of Some.

328 1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1891/2. He answered that I was gone ouer a water.

329 1598.  Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 355/1. As the said burne rynnis north in the watter callit Dewquhilliegach.

330 1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 47. Near to this Town, runs a Water that passes under a Bridge of five Arches.

331 1721.  in W. Macfarlane, Geogr. Collect. (S.H.S.), I. 44. Thorow this Parish runs the River Eugie Eastward, the Inhabitants there call it the water of Strichen.

332 1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. River, We must not omit here a water in Germany, which is ordinarily supposed to change iron into copper.

333 1761.  Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, III. 184. He was drowned in crossing a deep water on horse back.

334 1793.  Heron, Observ. Journ. W. Scot., I. 13. Within a little [we] found ourselves crossing the water of Leith.

335 1865.  Geikie, Scen. & Geol. Scot., i. 13. Streams, intermediate in size between brooks and rivers, are known in Scotland as ‘waters.’

336   † d.  Sc. and north. The banks of a river; the inhabitants of the district bordering on a river. (Eng. Dial. Dict.)

337 a. 1800.  Jamie Telfer, xxv. in Child, Ballads, V. 250/2. Gar warn the water [cf. xxiv. water-side], braid and wide, And warn the Currers i the skaw.

338 a. 1859.  Denham, Tracts (1892), I. 313. The Coquet Water. The Northumbrians use the above expression in a peculiar sense; signifying thereby the district of the country immediately adjoining the river bearing that name.

339   13.  † a. sing. A flood. Obs. b. pl. Floods: esp. in phrase the waters are out.

340 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 592. Ðo was ilc fleis on wer[l]de slaȝen, ðo gunnen ðe wateres hem wið-draȝen.

341 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, I. xiii. 52. Ther blewe a grete wynde & blewe doun her castels and her townes, and after that cam a water and bare hit all awey.

342 1523.  Surrey, in St. Papers Hen. VIII., IV. 44. By reason of the greate waters that was rysen with this rayne that fell thies 3 dayes paste.

343 a. 1552.  Leland, Itin., IV. II. 191 a. Leaving Ottemor on the right Hand, that if the Waters had not beene up had beene the next waye.

344 1617.  Moryson, Itin., II. 74. Some were drowned passing the waters then very high.

345 1624.  Walter, Diary (Camden), 77. The great army of Spinola before Breda,… was removed by God him self, who sent a great water and drowned his trenches, by means whereof he was enforced to remove.

346 1743.  Mrs. E. Montagu, Corr. (1906), I. 141. We were met … by a Messenger … to tell us the waters were out at Burroughbridge, and that we could not pass them. Ibid., 142. I … agreed to go on to the place he mentioned, and then send a messenger to see if the waters had fallen.

347 1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., ii. The waters are out in Lincolnshire…. The adjacent low-lying ground, for half a mile in breadth, is a stagnant river.

348   † 14.  Astr. The portion of the constellation Aquarius which is figured as a stream of water. [= L. Aqua, Gr. Ὓδωρ.] Obs.

349 1551.  Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 267. Besyde these 22 starres, there are other 19, whiche in their dyuers and croked position doo make a forme of a Ryuer, and are called the Water whiche Aquarye sheddeth.

350   II.  15. The substance of which the liquid ‘water’ is one form among several; now known to be a chemical compound of two volumes of hydrogen and one of oxygen (formula H2O); in ancient speculation regarded as one of the four, and in pre-scientific chemistry as one of the five elements of which all bodies are composed.

351 971.  Blickl. Hom., 35. Ure lichoma was ʓesceapen of feower ʓesceaftum, of eorðan, & of fyre, & of wætere, & of lyfte.

352 a. 1300.  [see EARTH sb.1 14].

353 1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 92. Above therthe kepth his bounde The water, which is the secounde Of elementz.

354 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, x. 13. Fyre, erd, air, and watter cleir.

355 1549.  Compl. Scot., v. 33. This material varld that is maid of the four elementis, of the eird, the vattir, the ayr, ande the fyir.

356 1669.  W. Simpson, Hydrol. Chym., 258. The like happens in all Vegetables, for Water is the material Principle of Vegetables.

357 1704.  J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Water, which the Chymists call Phlegm, is the 4th of the 5 Chimical Principles, and one of the Passive ones.

358 1732.  A. Stewart, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 330. I think the word (Spirits) was an unhappy Choice [to designate the nervous fluid] … And the simple Qualities of a pure and perfectly defecated elementary Water, will better suit all that our Senses can discover of it.

359 1812–6.  Playfair, Nat. Philos. (1819), I. 235. On the different quantities of heat … united to the substance which we call water, depends its existence in the state of a solid, a liquid, or an elastic fluid.

360 1881.  Sir W. Armstrong, in Nature, 8 Sept., 450/2. Water, being oxidised hydrogen, must be placed in the same category as the earths.

361   III.  A liquid resembling (and usually containing) water.

362   16.  An aqueous decoction, infusion or tincture, used medicinally or as a cosmetic or a perfume.

363 13[?].  S. Eng. Leg. (MS. Bodl. 779), in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LXXXII. 311. Lechis also of flourus wateris makeþ I-lome & oþer þingus þat þer-to by-come.

364 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom., 906. What is Magnasia…? It is a water that is maad, I seye, Of elementes foure.

365 1523–34.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 46. There be dyuers waters, & other medicyns, that wolde mende hym [sc. a blind sheep].

366 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Golden Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), I ij b. He wold washe his handes with very well smellyng waters.

367 1599–1600.  in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823), III. 458. By Mr. William Goodres, two glasses of pretyous water.

368 1600.  Surflet, Country Farm, III. lxxi. 600. A water vsed amongst the Ladies of the Court, to keepe a faire white and fresh in their faces: Take a white pigeon, a pinte of goats milke [etc.].

369 1617.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Three Wks. Observ., D 3 b. Viols, Gallipots, Glasses, Boxes … wherein … were Waters, Oyles, Vnguents, [etc.].

370 1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 57. Can cure all Diseases, from Aries, head and face, to Pisces, the Feet, with a Water and a Powder.

371 1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 298. They take Tobacco, and drink of a certain black water, which they call Cahwa [= coffee].

372 1824.  Miss L. M. Hawkins, Annaline, I. 255. When the pain was violent they spread light linen dipped in aromatic water over her throbbing temples.

373 1871.  Garrod, Mat. Med. (ed. 3), 4. The waters of pharmacy consist of water holding in solution very small quantities of oils or other volatile principles.

374   b.  With defining word, applied to liquid preparations of various kinds.

375   For illustration of the diversity of application, see COLOGNE-water, LAVENDER WATER, ORANGE-FLOWER-water, ROSE-WATER; BARLEY-WATER, † CHICKEN-water; BARYTA-water, GUM-water, LIME-WATER; LITHIA-water, POTASS water, SODA-WATER.

376 c. 1407.  Lydg., Reson & Sens., 5737. Of tast also and of flauour It was swetter than watir rose A man in helthe to dyspose.

377 a. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 82. Þis is called watre of alum…. And þis watre mundifieþ in coldand, bot watre of sulphur mundifieþ in hetyng or chaufand.

378 a. 1440.  Sir Degrev., 1393. With … Watyr of everrose clere, They wesche ryȝth thare.

379 1472.  Norton, Ord. Alch., v. in Ashm. (1652), 77. As Water of Litharge.

380 1502.  Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. York (1830), 8. A present of watier of rooses.

381 1819.  J. G. Children, Chem. Anal., 426. If water of barya be added to a solution of silicated potassa, the silica and barya fall down in combination.

382 1836–41.  Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 75. He … observed the rapidity with which baryta-water absorbs carbonic acid from the air.

383 1844.  Hoblyn, Dict. Med. (ed. 2), Mastic Water. A remedy employed by the Albanian physicians in infantile diarrhœa; it is simply water which has been boiled along with mastic.

384   † c.  A distilled alcoholic liquor, = STRONG WATER 2, † HOT WATER 2. Also burning water (= med.L. aqua ardens, F. eau ardente), alcohol.

385 1460–70.  Bk. Quinte Essence, 6. Haue biside ȝou a uessel … fillid ful of the beste brennynge watir þat ȝe may fynde.

386 1471.  Ripley, Comp. Alch., V. xxiv. in Ashm. (1652), 154. What Salts, what Powders, what Oyles, and waters fort.

387 1624.  Capt. J. Smith, Virginia, V. 174. Some hauing some good and comfortable waters, fetched them and dranke one to another.

388 1789–96.  Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 116. Rum, brandy, and other distilled waters.

389   † d.  Contextually for STRONG WATER 1 = AQUAFORTIS. Also corrosive water, any strong acid.

390 1609.  J. Davies (Heref.), Holy Rood (Grosart), 4/1. Vpon the Crosse (as on a Touch) we may Trie our Soules value whether great, or small: If there, it (washt with Water-Strong) doth stay, We may be sure its most Angelicall.

391 1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1704), 31. Aquafortis or the like corrosive Waters.

392 1736.  T. Atkinson, Conf. Painter & Engraver, 23. But the general Way [of Etching] is, to work the Offskip tenderly, letting the Water [called ‘aqua fortis’ above] bite but a little, and then [etc.].

393   17.  Used to denote various watery liquids found in the human or animal body, either normally or in disease. † To run on a water, to discharge a watery liquid.

394 1533.  Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 83 b. Whan they [children] waxe elder, than be they greved with … wormes of the bealy, waters, swellynges under the chynne; &c.

395 1580.  Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., cxli. 61 b. Of the Crowne scab…. The cronets will be alwaies mattering, and run on a water.

396 1643.  J. Steer, trans. Exp. Chyrurg., iii. 7. Pustles doe arise, in the which is contained cleere and white water.

397 1801.  Monthly Mag., Feb., 40/2. The immediate cause of her death was found to be an accumulation of water on the chest.

398 1860.  Mayne, Expos. Lex., s.v. Cotunnius, Water of Cotunnius, a peculiar fluid found within the membrane lining the vestibule and semi-circular canals of the internal ear.

399   b.  Water on (or † in) the brain, in the head: hydrocephalus. Cf. G. wasser im hirn, im kopf (haben)

400 c. 1790.  in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918), 79. The D[ea]r Lamb was … taken of by a short illness of the docter thaught Water on its Brain.

401 1806.  Med. Jrnl., XV. 133. The water in the brain was not, I believe, the immediate cause of death.

402 1852.  J. Savory, Dom. Med. (ed. 4), 261. Water in the head is almost peculiar to infants, and chiefly to those of a scrofulous or rickety habit.

403 1861.  Whyte-Melville, Good for N., iii. Some people thought he had gout in the stomach, others vowed it was water on the brain.

404   c.  The fluid contained in the amniotic cavity (liquor amnii); now usually plural. The effusion of this fluid from the womb, which precedes the exclusion of the fœtus, is popularly denoted by the expression ‘the waters have broken.’

405 1688.  Depos. Birth Pr. Wales, 20. Whilst her Majesty was sitting trembling, her Water broke.

406 1754–64.  Smellie, Midwifery, II. 425. When the membranes broke, a large quantity of waters were discharged.

407 1880.  J. E. Burton, Midwifery, 27. The ‘waters’ … are a whitish, muddy-looking liquid, the quantity of which greatly varies.

408   d.  Tears. (So often in the Bible: see the concordances.)

409 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 44. And made William to weope watur with his eȝen.

410 1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 115. Ther was no wiht, if he hem syhe, Fro water mihte kepe his yhe.

411 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 7171. Care hade the kyng for Cassibilon his son,… Full tendurly with teris tynt myche watur.

412 c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 1131. The watter wet his chekis.

413 1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 217. His eyes ran a water.

414 1563–83.  Foxe, A. & M., 1215/1. With that the water stoode in Marbeckes eyes, why weepest thou quoth the Gentleman?

415 1622.  in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1908), II. 52. [It] made the watter roune doune my checks to looke one them.

416 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, vi. A dexterous rap on the nose with the key, which brought the water into his eyes.

417   e.  Saliva; now only, flow of saliva provoked by appetite. † To set (a person’s) teeth on water = ‘to make his mouth water’ (see MOUTH sb. 2 c, WATER v. 12).

418 1598.  Florio, Tutto in sapore, louing earnestly, euen till ones teeth run a water.

419 1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXXIII. xi. II. 481. Their rich plate set their enemies teeth on water.

420 1655.  trans. Com. Hist. Francion, III. 74. He delighted it seemed, to eate that which was good, and rare before us, purposely to set our teeth on water.

421 1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 56. The water comming from the pallat mixed with honey and salt, rubbed on the head, &c. helpeth.

422 1685.  H. More, Illustr. Daniel, 334. Those fat and fair Objects that make Mens mouths run a-water so.

423 1830.  Cobbett, Hist. Geo. IV., vi. § 334. He has seen them flopping their jaws, the water running out of their mouths; and has seen them go through all the motions of devouring.

424 187[?].  W. S. Gilbert, ‘Bab’ Ballads, Etiquette, 26. For the thought of Peter’s oysters brought the water to his mouth.

425   † f.  All on a water: covered with sweat. Obs.

426 1530.  Palsgr., 562/1. He hath gestylled my horse in the stabyll tyll he hath made hym all on a water [tant quil la mys tout en eaue].

427   g.  The liquid of oysters.

428 c. 1430.  Two Cookery-bks., 13. Take grete Oystrys…; an take þe water of þe Oystrys, & ale, an brede y-straynid.

429   18.  esp. Urine. To make water [= F. faire de l’eau]: to urinate. To pass water (PASS v. 50): to void urine (usually with reference to obstruction or the absence of it). To hold (one’s) water: to retain urine.

430 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 603. He leit thame nocht haf sic lasier As anys wattir for to ma.

431 1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 359. Mony men of that cuntre vse to make water and to send furthe theire vryne syttenge.

432 1535.  Coverdale, 2 Kings ix. 8. And I wyl rote out from Achab, euen him that maketh water agaynst the wall.

433 1577.  T. Kendall, Flowers Epigr., 46. The drinke his bladder burdened so, That he must let his water goe.

434 1580.  Hester, trans. Fioravanti’s Disc. Chirurg., 19. To helpe those that can-not hold their water.

435 1584.  B. R., trans. Herodotus, II. 97 b. Hys syght shoulde eftsoones bee restored agayne, if in case hee washed hys eyes in the water of a woman, whych [etc.].

436 1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 41. When did’st thou see me heaue vp my leg, and make water against a Gentlewomans farthingale?

437 1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 754. The nature of the wolfe both in making his water, as also in voyding his excrements is like vnto a Dogs.

438 1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 998. The Wound must be at first Washed cleane, with White Wine, or the Parties owne Water.

439 1719.  D’Urfey, Pills, III. 3. Come ye broken Maids that … can never hold your Water.

440 1786.  in J. Howard, Lazarettos (1789), 195. No prisoner … shall … make water against any part of the building, under the penalty of forfeiting for each offence … four-pence.

441 1801.  Med. Jrnl., V. 409. Has been in this state three months; makes only three-quarters of a pint of water in 24 hours.

442 1860.  Flor. Nightingale, Notes on Nursing, 199. She will know the shiver which betrays the formation of matter—that which shows the unconscious patient’s desire to pass water—that which precedes fever.

443 1884.  Thompson, Tumours of Bladder, 35. Case 34…. Last four years much difficulty and pain in passing water:… Now passes water about every hour, day and night.

444 1884.  Bible (R. V.), 2 Kings xviii. 27. To drink their own water with you.

445 1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 281. The quantity of water voided by a healthy adult in 24 hours is from 40 to 50 ounces.

446   b.  In references (formerly much more common than now) to the inspection of a patient’s urine as a means of diagnosis. (Cf. WATER-DOCTOR.) Phrases, to † cast (CAST v. 40), † look, † look in (a person’s) water.

447 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 224. Thanne loured leches and lettres þei sent, Þat he shole wonye with her wateres to loke.

448 c. 1440.  Alphabet of Tales, 41. A leche felid his powce & lukid his watir, bod he cuthe fynde no sekenes in hym.

449 c. 1530.  Beauty & Gd. Prop. Women (facs.), C j. I haue shewid thy water to thy phesycyon.

450 1535.  Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 22. But I wyll not be his Phisicion and decerne his water at this tyme.

451 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 33. By my faith you come to looke in my water. And for my comfort … Ye would, by my purs, geue me a purgacion.

452 1550.  Crowley, Last Trumpet, 826. And shewe by what right thou maist take Two pence for the sight of water, When thou knowest not therbi to make The sick man one farthinge better.

453 1562.  Child-Marr. (1897), 75. Sir Roberte sawe this respondentes water; & told hym he might be easilie holpen, & gave hym a drinke.

454 1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 2. Fal. … What saies the Doct. to my water? Pag. He said sir, the water it selfe was a good healthy water: but for the party that ow’d it, he might haue more diseases then he knew for.

455 1600.  Rowlands, Lett. Humours Blood, vi. Heele looke vnto your water well enough.

456 1614.  Jackson, Creed, III. 299. But what if some forreiner should of set purpose send a dead-mans water to trie this grand-Phisitions skill.

457 1625.  Hart, Anat. Ur., I. ii. 28. They haue bene with them who haue told them wonders by the water.

458 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. ii. 53. The good Physician … trusteth not the single witnesse of the water if better testimony may be had.

459 a. 1709.  J. Lister, Autobiog. (1842), 43. The day after that I sent my water to a physician, who sent me word he could make no judgment of my case.

460 1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 505, ¶ 7. I can interpret their Dreams by seeing their Water.

461 1784.  Morn. Chron., 21 April, 1/3, Advt. Miss Mollitor … flatters herself that by seeing the water of the patient to tell if there be a cure or not.

462   † c.  In fig. phrases, to attend, watch (a person’s) waters [= G. einem das wasser besehen], to scrutinize his conduct rigorously. Obs.

463 1700.  T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., iii. Wks. 1720, III. 36. I … judged he had been whipping it in with the Gentlewomen before mentioned, tho’ ’twas not convenient to tell him so, lest his Wife should watch his Waters more narrowly than she had done.

464 1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 9. What can we expect less in the succeeding Year, than that his great Proxy, the first Lieutenant, attend his Waters purely to prevent an Interregnum?

465 1709.  Mrs. Manley, Secr. Mem., 151. Her Brother … was gone abroad … when this Rogue … courted her, or else he had never got his Will of her; he would have watch’d his Waters for him to some purpose.

466   19.  Applied to vegetable juices.

467 1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 142/2. Lachryma,… the water, moysture, or dropping of a tree that turneth to gumme.

468 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. viii. 8 b. Another frute … melteth in ones mouth, giuing a water as it were sugred.

469 1589.  Bigges, Summarie Drake’s W. Ind. Voy., 14. And within this white of the [cochos] nut lyeth a water, which is whitish and very cleere, to the quantitie of halfe a pint or thereabouts.

470 1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. 292. While the Nut [sc. coco-nut] is growing, all the inside is full of this Water, without any Kernel.

471 1842.  Anne Pratt, Pict. Catech. Bot., v. 79. [In the pitcher plant] the liquid is a clear water, very pleasant and refreshing to the palate.

472   IV.  Appearances resembling water.

473   20.  The transparency and luster characteristic of a diamond or a pearl. The three highest grades of quality in diamonds were formerly known as the first, second, and third water; the phrase of the first water survives in popular use as a designation of the finest quality, often applied to jewels generally.

474   [The equivalent use is found in all the mod. Rom. and Teut. langs.; it may have come from Arabic, where this sense of mā’, water, is a particular application of the sense ‘luster, splendor’ (e.g., of a sword).]

475 1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. i. 18. Jew. I have a Iewel heere…. Mer. ’Tis a good forme. Jewel. And rich: heere is a Water looke ye. Ibid. (1608), Per., II. ii. 102.

476 1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Eau, Perle de belle eau, of a faire luster, or water. Ibid., s.v. Esclat, Diamond de bon esclat,… a dyamond of a good luster, or water.

477 1622.  Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 75. The best waters are whitish, inclining to the blew, which maketh the best illustration and play, as some call it.

478 1667.  Phil. Trans., II. 429. If it [the Diamond] have no good water, or have a Bleb or Flaw, the Carat will not be worth but from 10 to 30 Crowns.

479 1675.  R. Vaughan, Coin & Coinage, 241. Value of Pearls. East India Yellow water. 1 Carrat 00 07 s. 6 d. Ibid., 242. A later Valuation … of the best Silver water.

480 1676.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1057/4. Lost…, one single Rose Diamond set in a Ring close shankt, and enameled with blew, a fair spread Stone clean and good water. Ibid. (1678), No. 1330/4. A Table stone, cut in India, perfect square, of the Second water, weighing 5 grains full.

481 1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 213. The Diamond that is Sandy, or hath any Foulness in it, or is of a Blue, Brown, or Yellow Water, is not worth half the Price of a perfect Stone of a White Water.

482 1718.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess of Mar, 10 March. A vest … of purple cloth, straight to her shape, and thick set, on each side … with pearls of the best water.

483 1727.  A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. xlv. 148. They have small Diamonds, but their Waters being inclined to be yellow, are not so much in Esteem as those of Golcondah.

484 1732.  Fielding, Miser, V. iii. I defy any jeweller in town to show you their equals; they are, I think, the finest water I ever saw.

485 1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Diamond, The first water in Diamonds means the greatest purity and perfection of their complexion, which ought to be that of the clearest drop of water. When Diamonds fall short of this perfection, they are said to be of the second or third water, &c. till the stone may be properly called a coloured one.

486 1832.  G. R. Porter, Porcelain & Gl., 220. Some artists have even given to this [sc. paste in imitation of the diamond] a very considerable play of light, or, as it is technically termed, water.

487 1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Parish, ii. He … wore a brilliant of the first water on the fourth finger of his left hand.

488 1910.  Ld. Rosebery, Chatham, i. 4. When Rondet, the royal jeweller, came from Paris to receive it [sc. a diamond], he criticised the water of the stone.

489   b.  fig. Of the first (occas. purest, rarest, finest) water: originally (with implied comparison to a jewel), of the highest excellence or purity; now only following a personal designation (often of reproach) with the sense ‘out-and-out,’ ‘thorough-paced.’ [Similarly in Fr.]

490 1824.  Dibdin, Libr. Comp., 587. Ascham is a thorough-bred philologist, and of the purest water.

491 1825.  T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn), 95. He was certain her family were by no means of ‘the first water.’

492 1826.  Scott, Jrnl., 6 Dec. He was a … swindler of the first water.

493 1836–7.  Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph. (1870), II. xxix. 201. Gassendi himself, who is justly represented by Mr. Stewart as a sensationalist of the purest water.

494 1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xvi. (1858), 360. Cousin William … had a heart of the finest water.

495 1869.  Eng. Mech., 17 Dec., 329/3. All this may seem like paradoxism of the first water.

496 1883.  T. Watts, in 19th Cent., March, 422. His wit, though not abundant and not of ‘the rarest water’ was quite unique.

497 1905.  W. B. Boulton, Gainsborough, 194. He … assumed the airs of a beau and lady-killer of the first water.

498   21.  (See quot.) Cf. WATERED ppl. a. 5. [So G. wasser, F. eau.]

499 1721.  Bailey, Water (among Dyers), a certain Lustre imitating Waves, set on Silks, Mohairs, &c.

500   V.  22. a. = WATER-COLOUR. b. pl. Water-color paintings. colloq. (Cf. OIL sb.1 4, 4 b.)

501 1787.  Exhib. R. Acad., 17. Portraits of the Princess Royal, and Princess Augusta, in water.

502 1877.  Paper Hanger, etc., 142. The best work for picture and looking-glass frames is done in water.

503 1909.  Daily Chron., 4 June, 5/5. I want you to paint as many pictures as you can, oils or waters, just as you like.

504   VI.  23. The lap of one shingle in roofing.

505 1703.  R. Neve, City & C. Purchaser, 242. They commonly make 3 Waters, (as they phrase it,) that is, they commonly hang 3 shingles in heighth, in the length of one; so that if the Shingles are 12 Inches long, they are laid at 4 Inches Gage.

506   VII.  attrib. and Comb.

507   24.  Simple attributive uses. a. Designating vessels in which water is held or kept, as water-bail, -bucket, -cruet, † -fetles, -gourd, -jar, † -say, -scoop, † -skeet, -skin, † -stean, -trough, -tub, † -tun, -vat, -vessel. See also WATER-BOTTLE, -GLASS, etc.

508 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John ii. 6. Ðar wæron soðlice aset syx stænene wæter-fatu.

509 c. 1200.  Ormin, 1411. Þa sexe waterrfetless, Þatt stodenn wiþþ þatt waterr þær.

510 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 681. And in the water vessel he it caste.

511 1387.  Trevisa, Higden, VI. 183. In a water stene [L. in hydria aquatica].

512 1391.  Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 74. Pro portagio de watertonnes vsque manerium Episcopi.

513 1420.  in For. Acc. 3 Hen. VI., G/2. j Waterbaille … vj Waterscoupes.

514 1459–60.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 152. Cum oþere carpentr. fact. circa molendinum de Shyncliff et leȝ Watertrowe.

515 1477–9.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 82. For a watir payle, iij d.

516 1487–8.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 651. Pro i fatt et i watersay.

517 1533.  MS. Rawlinson D., 776, fol. 136 b. ij flatt hooppis … for the water Tubbe.

518 1552.  Inv. Ch. Goods York, etc. (Surtees), 66. ij watter bokettes of latyne.

519 1556.  Withals, Dict. (1562), 47 b/2. A water tankerd, cadus aquarius.

520 1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse, E 3 b. The water-tankard wil keepe vnder the insurrection of their shoulders.

521 1613.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. ii. (1616), 31. And for the Maid that had perform’d each thing, She in the Water-paile bad leaue a Ring.

522 1615.  E. S., Britain’s Buss, B. Two waterskeits, to wet the sailes.

523 1667.  in Pettus, Fodinæ Reg. (1670), 35. One new large Water-wheel with Water-troughs.

524 1773.  Exhib. R. Acad., 30. A horse tied to a water-trough, in a Farm-yard.

525 1834.  Marryat, P. Simple, xli. I … set my first lieutenant to work getting in the ballast and water-tanks.

526 1842.  Dickens, Amer. Notes, ii. The water-jug is plunging and leaping like a lively dolphin.

527 1853.  J. D. H. Dale, Cerem. Roman Rite, 93. The Subdeacon elevates a little the water-cruet towards the Bishop.

528 1867.  Lady Herbert, Cradle L., i. 8. Picturesque water-carriers with their water-skins.

529 1869.  Browning, Ring & Bk., IX. 63. Clouted shoon, staff, scrip and water-gourd.

530 1886.  Ruskin, Præterita, I. iii. 106. I went head foremost into the large water-tub kept for the garden.

531   b.  Pertaining to the storage or distribution of water in considerable quantities; as water-ditch, -lock, † -place, -room, -stank, -station; water-meter, † -purveyance, -service, -storage, -supply.

532 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11677. Vr water purueance es gan, And in þis wildernes es nan.

533 1473.  Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 189. Water-stankis … of sic depnes that ged eyls and fyscis … ma be … kepit.

534 1670.  Blount, Glossogr. (ed. 3), Water-lock, a watering place fenced with walls, rails, or bars, &c.

535 1703.  Dampier, Voy., III. I. 88. The Governor very kindly sent an Officer to clear the Water-place for my Men.

536 1735.  in Trans. Cumberld. & Westm. Antiq. Soc. (N.S.), XX. 172. Taking water for the use of their families out of the water ditch in the said meadow.

537 1809.  Kendall, Trav., II. xlvi. 132. The water is led by troughs into a range of vats or rooms, distinguished by the name of water-rooms.

538 1815.  Pocklington Canal Act, 4. Pens for water, water-stanks, dams.

539 1840.  H. S. Tanner, Canals & Rail Roads U. S., 263. Water stations, places where locomotives obtain their supplies of water.

540 1848.  W. W. Lloyd, in Numism. Chron., XI. 114. The local water-service.

541 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Water-meter, an instrument for registering the supply of water.

542 1872.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., July, 500/2. A terrible year of water-famine.

543 1885.  Weekly Notes, 28 March, 67/2. The house had become uninhabitable through failure of the water-supply.

544 1890.  A. R. Wallace, Darwinism, 23. The absence of rivers or water-storage.

545 1907.  Q. Rev., Oct., 391. Where the water-rights of villages and small towns are … threatened.

546   c.  Used for the carriage or transport of water, as water barge, boat, ship; water animal, mule.

547 1727.  A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. xxviii. 346. He built some Water Boats,… and, by these boats furnished the Garison with good Water.

548 1805.  Collingwood, 18 Oct., in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. 127, note. I shall be glad to see the Water-Ships as many of the Fleet are getting low.

549 1898.  Daily News, 3 May, 8/3. The baggage and water animals. Ibid. (1900), 17 March, 7/4. Indians, with their plucky and clever little water-mules, were ordered right up into the firing line.

550 1918.  Qua Iboe Mission Quarterly, Feb., 121/2. Water-barges to replenish our tanks were soon alongside.

551   d.  Designating a channel in which water runs, or any contrivance for facilitating or regulating its flow, as water-channel, -cock, † -conduct, -conduit, -cut, -dam, -gutter, -main, -port, -sewer, -squirt, -tap, † -trunk, † -wising. See also WATERCOURSE, -FURROW, etc.

552 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11942. Þe water wissing can he ditt Þat water to þe lak broght.

553 c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 44. A plase to make an hede of her water cundit.

554 1535.  Coverdale, Nahum ii. 6. The water portes [1611 the gates of the rivers; Luther die Thore der Wasser] shal be opened and the kinges palace shall fall.

555 1577–87.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 1186/1. Not forgetting to make a water-conduit for the ease of washing.

556 1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 42. Thay lay in the furdes and waterdames.

557 1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Phormio, IV. iv. (1607), 432. A snake fel from the tyles through the water gutter.

558 1600.  J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa (1896), II. 402. So soon as the said water-conduct was derived unto the Towne, he caused it to be divided.

559 1662.  Atwell, Faithf. Surveyor, 95. The water-squirt which will throw a whole hogs-head of water to the top of a house at once.

560 1764.  Museum Rust., II. 234. To bestow a watering on my fields, by means of water-trunks, immediately after my first crop of hay is got off.

561 1803.  W. Tatham, Rep. Impediments Thames, 71. At this place there is a water-main which crosses over to the Middlesex shore.

562 1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 16. A water-cock and wash-hand-basin.

563 1846.  Comic Almanack (1870), 91. The common water-plug offers a capital medium for illustrating the leading principles in hydrostatics and hydraulic.

564 1880.  J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 47. Connect the other end of the pipe to the nearest water-tap.

565 1883.  W. C. Russell, Sailors’ Lang., Water-ports, openings in a ship’s bulwarks to free the deck of water.

566 1902.  Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 9. Down every ditch, runnel, and water-cut, the turbid waters were hurrying.

567 1914.  E. F. Knox, in Blackw. Mag., Dec., 780/1. Fields of young wheat and barley, intersected by water-channels, shimmered in the silvery light as a gentle breeze swept over them.

568   e.  Designating a machine that is worked or driven by water, a part of a machine in which water is heated, a contrivance for drawing or circulating water, and the like; as water-back, -barrel, -bellows, -blast, -box, chamber, † -corn-mill, -drum, -gin, † -grist-mill, † -motion, -motor, -trap, -trompe, -turbine, -whim.

569 1580.  Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 32. All my interest in the water corne mylne and farmehold in Kirklawe.

570 1660.  R. D’Acres, Elem. Water-drawing, Pref. The innumerable shapes, and various forms and fashions of Water-Gins.

571 1661.  [T. Powell], Hum. Industry, 35. De Aquaticis Machinis, Of Water Motions.

572 1725.  in Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (Chetham Soc.), I. 178. A wattercorn Milln called Accorinton Milln.

573 1763.  in Smiles, Engineers (1861), I. 359, note. At the mouth of the cavern is erected a water-bellows.

574 1786.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 12. A water-grist mill for grinding the corn of the neighborhood.

575 1819.  Rees, Cycl., Water-Bellows,… a machine used to blow air into a furnace, by the action of a column of water falling through a vertical tube.

576 1824.  R. Stuart, Hist. Steam Engine, 47. The pipe, 1, connects the air-chamber, A, with the inner water-chamber, a.

577 1833.  T. Sopwith, Mining Distr. Alston Moor, 131. The water blast … consists of a wooden pipe placed in a shaft, and down which a stream of water is kept running, while a quantity of fresh air is carried with it.

578 1839.  De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 572. Water-whims … are seldom employed in western Cornwall.

579 1895.  J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, 122. Sent down by means of a fan blower, steam jet, turbine, or a water-trompe.

580 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Water-back, a permanent reservoir at the back of a stove or range, to utilize the heat of the fire in keeping a supply of hot water. Ibid., Water-barrel (Mining), a large wrought-iron barrel with a self-acting valve in the bottom, used in drawing water where there are no pumps.

581 1876.  Encycl. Brit., IV. 688/1. In this machine there are two water-boxes. Ibid., 468/1. It is from the drying up of the fluid in water-traps that uninhabited houses are so frequently offensive.

582 1877.  Wood, Nature’s Teach., 463. The Water Turbine.

583 1881.  Encycl. Brit., XII. 520/1. Water motors may be divided into water-pressure engines, water wheels, and turbines.

584 1884.  C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 388/1. The draught is sometimes kept up by … a water-drum, an apparatus which sucks in air by means of the friction of a jet of water.

585   f.  Designating implements or contrivances used in or on the water, as water-cord, -dress, -staff, -stang.

586 a. 1570.  Durham Depos. (Surtees), 263. The said William Sander … dyd … smite at this deponent with a water staff, suche as fishermen hangs ther nett upon.

587 1866.  in G. C. Bompas, Life F. Buckland, viii. (1885), 163. My water-dress put on, the nets and cans, &c. packed, we started in a carriage.

588 1878.  Cumberld. Gloss., Watter stang, a pole fixed across a stream in lieu of a bridge or fence.

589 1904.  Gallichan, Fishing Spain, 73. A fifty-yard length of water-cord that I had in the bag.

590   8.  Designating (a) a water-tight contrivance, as water-joint, -packer; (b) a body of water that makes a vessel air-tight or gas-tight, as water-lute, -luting, -seal.

591 1837.  Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 12/1. Both surfaces … fit into each other, and form a perfectly secure water-joint.

592 1841.  S. Clegg, Treat. Coal-Gas, 111. This arch-pipe is made of thin plate-iron, sealed at each end by a water-joint.

593 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 206. The shallow water-luting, formed by the marginal groove.

594 1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Water-packer, a water-tight packing of leather between the pipe and the walls of a bore-hole.

595 1884.  Century Mag., Dec., 259/1. The trap … depends for its efficiency on the permanence of its water-seal.

596 1917.  Chamb. Jrnl., Dec., 831/2. A water-seal renders the joint air-tight.

597   h.  Designating substances that harden under water and so become impervious to it, as water-cement, -lime, -mortar. Cf. HYDRAULIC a. 3.

598 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 198. The hardening of water-mortar. Ibid., § 212. A proper Water-Cement. Ibid. A very competent Water Lime.

599 1847.  G. A. Smeaton, Builder’s Man., 34. The Roman is the most valuable of all water-cements.

600 1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 377. The making of hydraulic cements, (water-limes,) mastics &c.

601   i.  Prepared with water, as water-size, -starch. Of articles of diet: Prepared with water (instead e.g., of milk); mixed or diluted with water; as water-biscuit, -broo (Sc.), -brose (Sc.), -broth, -cider, -fritters, -kail (Sc.), † -meat, -pap, -pottage, -saps (Sc.; see SOP sb.1), -tansey. Also WATER-GRUEL, -ICE.

602 13[?].  S. E. Leg. (MS. Bodl. 779), in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LXXXII. 335. A lytil water-potage he ete.

603 c. 1480.  Henryson, Wolf & Lamb, 140. To leif vpon dry breid and watter caill.

604 1572.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiii. 252. Glaid to get Peis breid and watter Caill.

605 c. 1610.  Women Saints, 26. But to her self being sicke, she was still rigorous, hardlie admitting a little wine, with her water-meates.

606 1630.  Dekker, 2nd Pt. Honest Wh., D 1 b. As arrant a whore as euer stiffned tiffany neck-cloathes in water-starch.

607 a. 1648.  Digby, Closet Opened (1669), 120. Doctor Harvey’s pleasant Water-cider, whereof he used to drink much.

608 1683.  J. Reid, Scots Gard. (1907), 172. Leaving the dreg behind (the which may go among the pressings for water-cyder).

609 1747.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, ix. 81. Water Fritters. Ibid., 104. A Water Tansey.

610 1785.  Burns, To J. Smith, xxiv. I’ll sit down o’er my scanty meal, Be’t water-brose, or muslin-kail, Wi chearfu’ face.

611 1789.  W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 17. It will then be proper to give it … a little of some food that is easy of digestion, as water-pap, milk-pottage.

612 1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VII. 739/2. A water-size … prepared by boiling cuttings of parchment or white leather in water.

613 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xiv. We got some water-broo and bannocks. Ibid. (1816), Bl. Dwarf, vi. ‘All clear away, with the water-saps and panada,’ returned the unabashed convalescent.

614 1854.  Surtees, Handley Cr., xxxix. (1901), II. 30. Mr. Jorrocks … had looked in vain for a water-biscuit.

615   j.  Pertaining to water as a beverage, or as a (teetotal) article of diet, as † water-day, -diet, -doctrine, † -drink; relating to the use of water in medical treatment, as water-dressing, -patient, strapping; also WATER-CURE.

616 c. 1000.  Vercelli MS., 112 b, in Napier, O. E. Lexicogr., 67. & sæde eac þæt man mid wæter-drinces sylene mihte him mycele ælmessan ʓedon.

617   c. 1200.  Ormin, 14482. Alls iff þu drunnke waterr drinnch Ut off þe firrste fetless.

618 14[?].  in Aungier, Syon (1840), 393. On water dayes sche schal ordeyne for bonnes or newe brede, water grewel, albreys, [etc.].

619 1842.  R. T. Claridge, Hydropathy, 22. Directly he commenced this water diet, all his complaints disappeared one by one.

620 1846.  Lytton, Conf. Water-patient, 17. The regular life which water-patients lead. Ibid., 68. Water-dressings are found the best poultice to an inflamed member.

621 1854.  Thackeray, Leech’s Pict., Wks. 1900, XIII. 484. George … has taken to the water-doctrine, as all the world knows.

622 1857.  Dunglison, Med. Lex., Water-dressing, the treatment of wounds and ulcers by the application of water. It generally consists in dipping folds of lint in water, and placing them on the part…. Water strapping or wet strapping means the treatment of ulcers,… &c., with strips of linen or cotton saturated with water.

623   k.  Pertaining to water as a physiographical feature or factor, as water-action, † -brim, -depths, -drainage, -edge, -flow, † -ground, † -rim, -scene, -shore, -strand, -view.

624   In many of these combinations the first element is equivalent to the genitive water’s, and in early and dial. examples the sense may often be ‘pertaining to the specified “water”’ (i.e., lake, river, etc.: see senses 12 a, b, c).

625 c. 1220.  Bestiary, 365. Alle þe oðre cumen mide, and … beren him of ðat water grund up to ðe lond al heil and sund.

626 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4779. Jacob yode walcand be þe nile; He sagh a-pon þe watur reme Caf flettand dunward [with] þe strem.

627 13[?].  Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.), in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LVII. 289. Þis hermyt sat by a water brimme.

628 1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 81. Whan the blake wynter nyht … Bederked hath the water Stronde.

629 1589.  Fleming, Virg. Bucol., v. 15. Watershores and banks (bedasht) and beaten with the flouds.

630 1792.  A. Young, Trav. France (1794), I. 17. The water-scenes from the town itself … are delicious.

631 1799.  Robertson, Agric. Perth, 454. Chains of lakes, finely wooded down to the water-edge.

632 1813.  Southey, Nelson, I. 19. It could not be possible to get the boats to the water edge before the fourteenth.

633 1826.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 247. To those who like water-scenes … it is the prettiest spot … in all England.

634 1830.  Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 175. The water-drainage of the country.

635 1854.  ‘Grace Greenwood,’ Haps & Mishaps, 10. Seaforth Hall, an elegant seaside residence … Here I saw a pleasant water-view.

636 1856.  Kane, Arctic Expl., II. xv. 158. A striated face, whose scratches still indicated the line of water-flow. Ibid., App. II. 309. The coast-ice … had been completely destroyed by thaw and water-action.

637 1865.  Lond. Rev., 30 Dec., 686/2. As the fisher saw the buried city in the waterdepths.

638 1901.  Scotsman, 4 March, 10/1. The streams, being small, with a rapid descent from very high land, are subject to much fluctuation of waterflow.

639   l.  Consisting of, holding or containing, formed or caused by, water; as † water-breath, -breeze, brook, -chasm, -column, † -draught, -fence, -flow, -foam, -fount, -passage, † -plash, -race, -ring, -run, -slide, -spread, † -sprinkle, -stripe (Sc.), † -vein, -wash, -wear, -world.

640 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5620. In þis kist þe barn sco did. Quen it spird was wit þe lid,… Sco laid it on þe water fame.

641 c. 1390.  St. Michael, 629. Alle huy [sc. rain, snow, mist, etc.] comiez of water-breth þat þe sonne drauȝth up.

642 1529.  Conventual Lease, Yorks., 1190 (P.R.O.). Asmoch grounde … as to make a sufficient dame apon to gedir water and water draught to the said dame.

643 1531.  Nottingham Rec., III. 370. The water-wessh bytwen Samon Pasture and Trentt.

644 1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xli[i]. 1. Like as the hert desyreth the water brokes.

645 1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 401/2. Torrens,… a water plash.

646 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. iii. 25. From the same the fierie sparkles flasht, As fast as water-sprinkles gainst a rocke are dasht.

647 1601.  Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 418/2. Ane watter strype quhilk rynnis at the north syde of the said mure.

648 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 532. A fairer towne than a man would looke to finde … among such slabbes and water-plashes.

649 c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XXI. 241. As a man that finds a water vaine.

650 1634.  Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 61. The channel or water-passage leading from Amsterdam to Utrecht.

651 1707.  Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 202. Their Gardens lie all open, where Prospects may be had, and Water-fences can be made.

652 1771.  Ann. Reg., 90/2. For … filling up upwards of 200 yards of the said water-race.

653 1813.  Scott, Trierm., III. xxviii. When, lo! a plashing sound he hears, A gladsome signal that he nears Some frolic water-run.

654 1818.  Byron, Ch. Har., IV. xviii. A fairy city … Rising like water-columns from the sea.

655 1818.  Keats, Endym., III. 101. Thou hast sent A moon-beam to the deep, deep water-world, To find Endymion.

656 c. 1820.  S. Rogers, Italy (1839), 77. Those Porches passed, thro’ which the water-breeze Plays.

657 1852.  Wiggins, Embanking, 94. Such water-fences and drains must … be drawn all around the intake.

658 1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., xix. I came to remember the steepness and the slippery nature of the water-slide.

659 1869.  R. B. Smyth, Gold Fields Victoria, 548. Table showing the Length of Water-races constructed.

660 1879.  G. B. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 48. A stone dropped into a pond, throws off a succession of circular undulations or water rings.

661 1884.  Leisure Hour, June, 344/2. One of the finest of the many picturesque water-chasms of Norway.

662 1887.  E. D. Morgan, in Proc. R. Geogr. Soc., IX. 214. Lake Koko-nor, a magnificent water-spread 10,800 feet above the sea.

663 1887.  Essex Weekly News, 11 March, 7/1. A small brick archway … which crosses a waterflow known as the Puddle Dyke.

664 1905.  A. R. Wallace, My Life, I. 250. Perpendicular rocks with no sign of water-wear.

665   m.  Situated or built on or beside water, as water-beacon, -brae, -bridge, -castle, -door, -doorway, frontage, † -stable, -stairs, -steps, † -tack. Also WATER-FRONT.

666 1445.  in Parker, Dom. Archit. (1859), III. 79. At Shene the water-brigge.

667 1603.  Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 499/1. Lie girs of the watter bray.

668 1608.  Machin, Dumb Knt., I. B 3. Why Orators wiues shortly will bee knowne like images on water staires, euer in one wetherbeaten suite.

669 1623.  North Riding Rec. (N. S.), II. 10. None ys to repare any water Beakon but such as is subject to the Admirald Court.

670 1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., VI. 255. A third excursion they [sc. the Danes] made,… and … return’d … like wild Beasts or rather Sea-monsters to thir Water-stables.

671 1751.  Labelye, Westm. Bridge, 18. Every Pier, Abutments, and Water-Stairs.

672 1837.  Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 23. The land is divided into long, narrow strips, that each lot may have a water frontage.

673 1899.  R. Barr, C’tess Tekla, iii. 37. The boatman … propelled the skiff through the water-doorway. Ibid., vi. 68. Bid him instantly to take you in his boat to the water-steps of the Palace.

674 1903.  Kipling, Five Nations, Explorer, 51. I … Counted leagues of water-frontage through the axe-ripe woods that screen ’em.

675 1906.  Crockett, White Plumes Navarre, xviii. 133. Cautiously … Madame Granier had peered through the thick grille of the water-door before admitting the Professor.

676   n.  Performed, conducted, taking place, on or in the water; as water-excursion, -fight, -life, -motion, -music, -polo, etc.

677 1607.  T. D. & G. Wilkins, Jests, 11. [He] demanded … wherefore all those Barges (like so many Water-pageants) were caryed vp and downe so gaylie with Flags and Streamers?

678 1634.  W. Wood, New Eng. Prosp. (1865), 22. Seeing the Beares take water, an Indian will leape after him, where they goe to water cuffs for bloody noses.

679 1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., II. 35. In such a various, and floating water-fight as was to be expected.

680 a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 10 Nov. 1644. Refresh’d with water-musiq, aviaries, and other rarities. Ibid., 29 Oct. 1662. I saw the Lord Maior passe in his water triumph to Westminster.

681 1749.  H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 17 May. A concert of water-music.

682 1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., III. i. 92. A representation of the water quintain … is given upon the tenth plate.

683 1817.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxii. II. 295. I shall not now enlarge on all these kinds of water-motion.

684 1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, River. We have been on water excursions out of number.

685 1865.  W. White, East. Eng., I. 86. About a dozen yachts have already arrived in readiness for the morrow’s ‘water frolic,’ which is a term much used by Norfolkians to signify a regatta.

686 1886.  Daily News, 20 Dec., 5/6. A small landscape dotted about with figures representing a water-picnic.

687 1888.  Field, 25 Aug., 277/3. Water Polo Inter-Club Championship.

688 1894.  H. Drummond, Ascent Man, 106. At one time there was nothing else in the world but water-life.

689   o.  Pertaining to transit or transport by water, as water-communication, -highway, -route, -traction.

690 1785.  J. Phillips, Treat. Inland Nav., p. vi. Inland districts … which had no opportunity … of a water-communication.

691 1816.  Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, iv. (1818), 159. It [Banza Congo] has no water communication with the Zaire.

692 1868.  Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), II. 199. The carriage … may … be done by water-traction and sailing vessels.

693 1886.  Pop. Sci. Monthly, March, 586 (Cass. Suppl.). The water-route is free to all.

694 1898.  F. I. Antrobus, trans. Pastor’s Hist. Popes, VI. 230, note. The improvement of the water-highway on the Tiber and the Anio.

695   p.  Living or occupied on the water; faring by water; as water-guide, -people, -police. Also, found on the water, as water-stray.

696 1552.  Huloet, Waterguide, conuector.

697 a. 1676.  Hale, De jure maris, v. in Hargrave, Tracts (1787), 23. His [the water-baillie’s] business was, to look to the king’s rights, as his wrecks, his flotsan, jetsan, water-strays, royal fishes.

698 c. 1826.  Pollok, in D. Pollok, Life (1843), 300. The Baijus—wandering water-gipsies on the eastern seas.

699 1848.  Sinks of Lond., 129. Water pads, fellows who rob ships.

700 1893.  Lady Burton, Life Sir R. F. Burton, II. 60. Hasan Hammad … is now sergeant to the water-police.

701 1897.  Hinde, Congo Arabs, 157. The Waginia, who are the water-people, and do all the transport on the river.

702   q.  Designating fabulous beings that live in, or have rule over, water; as water-deity, -demon, -devil, -elf, -fairy, -fiend, -goblin, -god, -kelpie, -nixie, -spirit, -sprite, -wraith. Also WATER-HORSE, -NYMPH.

703 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Chances, IV. ii. Get me a conjurer, One that can raise a water Devil.

704 1702.  Addison, Dial. Medals, II. Wks. 1766, III. 105. We see abundance of Water-Deities on other Medals.

705 1742.  R. Forbes, Jrnl. to Portsmouth (1755), 30. You wou’d hae taen me for a water-wreath, or some gruous ghaist.

706 1785.  Burns, Addr. Deil, 69. Then water-kelpies haunt the foord, By your direction.

707 17[?].  Logan, in Ritson, Sc. Songs (1794), I. 155. Thrice did the water-wraith ascend, And gave a doleful groan thro’ Yarrow.

708 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., 155. As if it dodged a water-sprite, It plunged and tacked and veered.

709 1819.  J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, xv. He banned the water-goblins’ spite.

710 1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, xxv. A water-fiend hath possessed the fair Saxon. Ibid. (1825), Betrothed, xxxi. The statue of a water-god bending over his urn.

711 1859.  Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xxii. Water-nixies, and such lovely things without souls.

712 1869.  Ruskin, Q. of Air, i. § 12. Myriads of other water spirits, of whom Nereus is the chief.

713 1871.  Tylor, Prim. Cult., xv. II. 191. In Australia, special water-demons infest pools and watering-places.

714   † r.  Occas. used to designate freshwater, as opposed to saltwater, objects; as water-fish, -land, -sand. (Cf. sense 12 c.)

715 c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 267. Sum grauel or sum watir lond kest vndir [L. Aliquid etiam terrae dulcis vel arenae subjiciendum est]. Ibid., 438. And feede in hit thy water-fissh & eel [L. anguillas sane piscesque fluviales].

716 1683.  J. Reid, Scots Gard. (1907), 41. If you are forced to use sea or water-sand.

717   25.  Objective: a. with vbl. sbs. and pres. pples., as water-blowing, † -commanding, -drawing, † -fetching, † -flinging, -loving, -raising, † -receiving, -selling, -yielding.

718 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 456/2. Synke, for water receyvynge, exceptorium.

719 1570.  Dee, Math. Pref., c j. Then, may you, of Ships water drawing, diuersly, in the Sea and in fresh water, haue pleasant consideration.

720 1660.  [R. Dacres] (title), The Elements of Water-drawing, or a Compendious abstract of all sorts and kinds of Water-Machins.

721 1660.  Marq. Worcester, in Dircks, Life (1865), 223. That … I may put in practice the greatest gift of invention … (I mean my water-commanding engine).

722 1670.  Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 16. Bed-making, chamber-sweeping, and water-fetching were doubtless great preservatives against too much vain philosophy.

723 1695.  D. Turner, Apol. Chyrurg., 130. Every water-flinging Piss-prophet boasts himself a great Doctor.

724 1824.  Morier, Hajji Baba, ix. With the money I had gained in water-selling, I found myself well off.

725 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 824. The trompe, or water-blowing engine.

726 1841.  P. Cunningham, Hints Austral. Emigrants (title-p.), Explanatory Descriptions of the Water-raising Wheels, and Modes of Irrigating Land in Egypt,… &c.

727 1851.  Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunters, vi. 48. The water-drawing, wood-hewing, pueblos.

728 1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 180. Water-loving Beetles (Philhydridæ).

729 1877.  Huxley, Physiogr., 32. A great drain was thrown upon the water-yielding power of the strata.

730   b.  with agent-nouns, as water-drawer, -haunter, † -searcher, -seller, -supplier.

731 1552.  Huloet, Water sercher, aquilex.

732 1562.  Turner, Bathes, 16. Smal byrdes … that are of easy digestion. But water-haunters must ye not touche.

733 1576.  Fleming, trans. Caius’ Dogs, iv. (1880), 29. This kinde of dogge is also called, In latine Aquarius in Englishe a water drawer. And these be of the greater … sort drawing water out of wells and deepe pittes, by a wheele which [etc.].

734 1867.  Morris, Jason, XVII. 264. A marble step … Well worn by many a water-drawer’s feet.

735 1884.  Bookseller, 5 March, 262/2. Householders, who have grievances against their local water suppliers.

736 1907.  Mrs. Fr. Campbell, Shepherd Stars, 70. A water-seller ringing his brass bell.

737   c.  in names of machines, implements, or natural agencies, as † water-chafer, -conductor, -cooler, -feeder, † -forcer, -heater, -holder, -regulator.

738 1457.  Will of Poole (Somerset Ho.). Menne Wat’chafer.

739 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 475. The Citizens conveighed water out of the river through pipes by an artificiall instrument or water-forcer.

740 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 332. The water-regulator consists of a large cistern, in which another of less area and capacity is inverted.

741 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 972. No water-feeder of any magnitude should present itself till the shaft had been sunk 100 fathoms.

742 1843.  J. Heppenstall, in Zoologist, I. 14. A leaden water-conductor at the top of our house.

743 1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xix. (1856), 142. A rugged little water-feeder, formed by the melting snows, sent down a stream of foam.

744 1880.  H. C. St. John, Wild Coasts Nipon, 225. The great tanks are more like small natural lakes than artificially constructed water-holders.

745 1899.  Jesse L. Williams, Stolen Story, etc. 34. He … stepped up to the water-cooler and filled a glass.

746   28.  Instrumental: a. with pa. pples., as water-beaten, † -bollen, -cooled, -eaten, filled, -girt, † -gyved, -inwoven, † -loaden, -locked, † -mingled, † -mixed, -rolled, -rounded, -sodden, -tempered, -walled, -whipped. Also WATER-BOUND, -LOGGED, -SOAKED, -WASHED, -WORN, etc.

747 c. 1440.  Watertemprid [see UNEVENLY adv. 3].

748 1555.  Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. vi. 103. Euery body layes him downe dronckarde-like to reste his water bolne bealy.

749 1593.  Nashe, Christs T., P 1. The nectarized Aqua cœlestis of water-mingled blood, sluced from Christs side.

750 1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 27. England hedg’d in with the maine, That Water-walled Bulwarke.

751 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. IV. Handie-Crafts, 776. A sable, water-loaden Sky.

752 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, II. 106 b. While thus they can nor liue nor dye, Nor water-gieu’d, escape away.

753 1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. II. Law, 589. The pure and plenteous Floud Of his most precious Water-mixèd Bloud.

754 1672.  Dr. Wild, Let., 6. Wellcome as the Dove to the Water-beaten Ark.

755 1789.  J. Williams, Min. Kingd., II. 205. The balls and glebes always appear water-rounded.

756 1800.  Hurdis, Fav. Village, 81. Forlorn and waterlock’d stands the lone mill.

757 1841.  H. Miller, O. R. Sandst., v. 110. A huge water-rolled boulder of granitic gneiss.

758 1843.  Thackeray, Irish Sk.-bk., xv. A great, wide,… water-whipped square lies before the … window.

759 1855.  Motley, Dutch Rep., II. i. (1866), 132. The blood of a world-wide traffic was daily coursing through the thousand arteries of that water-in-woven territory.

760 1871.  Tennyson, Last Tourn., 253. Quiet as any water-sodden log.

761 1883.  Fr. M. Peard, Contrad., xvi. The old water-eaten and green stones of beautiful palaces.

762 1886.  Standard, 4 Jan., 6/5. The Kelso … is waterfilled, in all holds.

763 1905.  Westm. Gaz., 23 May, 4/2. A 12-h.p. water-cooled Lanchester car.

764 1905.  J. B. Bury, St. Patrick, vii. 134. The water-girt promontory which is washed on the west by Lake Kilglass.

765 1911.  Mrs. H. Ward, Case Richard Meynell, I. vi. 120. The narrow strip of land between the pond and the new channel made a little waterlocked kingdom of its own for the cottage.

766   b.  with pres. pples., as † water-flowing, † -standing; with vbl. sbs., as water-planing, -rolling, -seasoning, -spinning, -steeping, -wasting.

767 1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. viii. 43. My mercie [hath] dry’d their water-flowing teares. Ibid., V. vi. 40. Many an old mans sighe, and many a Widdowes, And many an Orphans water-standing-eye.

768 1595.  Locrine, IV. iii. 28. And from the Lee with water-flowing pipes The moisture is deriu’d into this arch.

769 1751.  Bankton, Inst. Law Scot., I. 681. If, by the water-wasting, the ground is worn away, where the dam was formerly.

770 1754.  Dict. Arts & Sci., II. s.v. Japanning, Rub the work over with a wet rag till it is rendered as smooth as possible; this work is called water-planing.

771 1765.  Complete Farmer, s.v. Walk, In order to make them more firm, it will be necessary to give them three or four water-rollings, that is, they should be rolled when it rains very fast; this will cause the gravel to bind.

772 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 263. Amongst wheelwrights, the water-seasoning [of timber] is of special regard.

773 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 386. Water-spinning differs both from the mule and jenny spinning. Ibid., 401. The … process of dew-retting or water-steeping.

774   27.  Locative, with agent-nouns and vbl. sbs., as water-diver, -farer, † -skirmisher; water-building, -dwelling, -faring, hunting. Also water-growing ppl. adj.

775 1570.  Drant, Serm., F v b. The Italians be most wittie, the Spanyardes best water skirmigers.

776 1625.  Purchas, Pilgrims, II. Table s.v., Cunning Water-diuers.

777 1674.  Petty, Disc. Dupl. Proportion, 117. Water-Divers who the lower they go, do find their stock of Air more and more to shrink.

778 1756–7.  trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 86. Three leagues from Munich lies … Starenberg, where the court sometimes takes the particular diversion of water-hunting.

779 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 185, note. Mortar for water building.

780 1864.  J. C. Atkinson, Stanton Grange, 160. Their haunts are always among water-growing weeds of some sort.

781 1865.  Lubbock, Preh. Times, 122. The curious habit of water-dwelling.

782 1889.  H. M. Doughty, Friesland Meres, 277. The waterfarers on this much-frequented river.

783 1913.  E. H. Barker, Wayfaring in France, Auvergne to Bay of Biscay, 254. I decided on a little water-faring up the stream.

784   28.  Similative, as water-grey, -green, -white adjs. (and sbs.); † water-weak adj.

785 1612.  J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacrif. (Grosart), 10/1. If lustie now, forth-with [I] am water-weake.

786 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 22. Illuminating-oil … of water-white and odorless qualities.

787 1893.  Daily News, 16 June, 6/1. A coat of water-green satin.

788 1893.  Saltus, Madam Sapphira, xii. 146. A sky of dead rose and water-green.

789 1900.  Mary E. Coleridge, Non Sequitur, 33. The mournful water-gray eyes.

790   29.  Special comb.: water authority, a municipal body administering a system of water supply; water-ballast, cisterns filled with water, placed in the hold of a vessel to serve as ballast; water-baptism, baptism with water, in contradistinction to baptism with the Holy Spirit; water-bar, (a) in Road-making, a ridge on a road, intended to prevent the accumulation of surface water; (b) a tubular bar of a fire-grate, to contain water, communicating with a system of hot-water pipes for warming a building; in quot. attrib.; water-barometer, a barometer in which the pressure of the atmosphere is measured by the height of a column of water, not of mercury as in the usual form of the instrument; † water-bedrip, a BEDRIP at which the reapers were supplied with no other drink than water at meals; water-bow poet. (a) a rainbow; (b) a jet of water issuing so as to form an arch; water-boy, (a) a boy employed at the riverside; † (b) the constellation Aquarius; (c) pl. rain-clouds (vulgar); † water-breach, (a) app. used for water-bank (? some error); (b) an irruption of water; water-breaker1 (see quot. 1823); water-breaker2, a key or cask for holding water (see BREAKER2); water-breather, any animal capable of breathing in water (by means of gills); so water-breathing ppl. a.; water-bridge, a fire-bridge that also forms part of the water-space of a boiler, = WATER-TABLE 4 (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); † water-camlet (see CAMLET sb. b); water-candlestick (? obs.), a vertical tube filled with water, to hold a floating piece of wax candle; water-cell, (a) each of the cells in the walls of the stomach of the camel, in which water is stored; (b) an interstice in ice, in which water is occluded; water-chute = WATER-SHOOT 4; † water-claw = DEW-CLAW 1; † water-cloth, ? a dish-cloth; water-company, a commercial association for the purpose of supplying water (conducted through pipes) to the inhabitants of a town or district; † water-corn Sc., ‘the grain paid by farmers for upholding the dams and races of mills’ (Jam.); † water-court = court of the watercourse (see WATERCOURSE 1 c); water-deck Mil., a piece of painted canvas to cover the saddle, bridle and girths of a cavalry horse; † water-dial, a clepsydra; water-diviner = WATER-FINDER; † water-dock = WET-DOCK; water-dust, water in the form of extremely fine particles, as in clouds and spray [? suggested by G. wasserdunst]; † water-egg, an infecund egg (cf. wind-egg); water-engineering, the construction of reservoirs, embankments, aqueducts, and the like; water-eynd dial. [ANDE sb.], see quot. 1884; † water-fare, a ferry; water-farm, a place where pisciculture is carried on; so water-farming, (a) pisciculture; (b) cultivation of plants growing in water; water-flint dial. (see quot. 1868); water-foot Sc., the mouth of a stream; ‘used also as the name of a village or town at the mouth of a river’ (Jam.); water-frame, Arkwright’s spinning-machine, which was worked by water-power; † water-free a., secure from damage by water; water-funk colloq., a person who is afraid to go in the water; water-gap (see GAP sb.1 5 b); water-garden, (a) a garden for aquatic plants, an aquarium; (b) see quot. 1902; † water-gavel (see quot. 1706); water-gilder, one who practises water-gilding; water-gilding, the process of gilding metal surfaces by applying liquid amalgam, the mercury being afterwards removed by evaporation; similarly water-gilt a.; water-globe = WATER-BALL1; † water-glue, a name for isinglass, ? as being waterproof; water-gold, the liquid amalgam used in water-gilding; also (poet. nonce-use) applied to the ‘liquid’ golden radiance of morning sunshine; water-guard, (a) a body of men employed by the Custom House to watch ships in order to prevent smuggling; (b) U.S. (see quot. 1868); † water-gun, a gun in which the projectile is propelled by pressure of water; water-haul U.S., ‘a haul of the net which catches no fish; fig. fruitless effort’ (Webster, 1911); water-heck, -hedge dial., the barred frame hung across a stream at a shallow part to prevent the passage of cattle along the shallow; water-ickle dial., a stalactite; water-inch (see quot.); water-jack, (a) Sc. a roasting-jack turned by a current of water; (b) dial. a waterman; water-jacket, a casing containing water, placed about something to prevent its becoming unduly heated or chilled; also attrib.; hence water-jacketed ppl. a., water-jacketing; water-jet, a stream of water discharged from a small orifice; a fountain; also attrib. water-jet propeller (see quot. 1843); water-jump, a place where a horse is required to leap a stream or ditch; † water-keeping Sc., the guarding of a tract of water against poachers; † water-kin, -kind, the nature of water; water-laid a., (a) Naut. of a rope (see quot. 1857); (b) Geol. of strata, deposited by water; † water-language, the rough language of watermen (cf. water-wit); † water-leasow, a water-meadow; water-leave, permission to navigate a watercourse belonging to another (cf. WAY-LEAVE); † water-lot U.S., a lot of ground covered with water, but capable of being filled in and converted into building land; water-lungs pl., the branches of the cloaca of holothurians, by some supposed to have respiratory functions; † water-manikin, some kind of sailing-boat; water-mead = WATER-MEADOW; water-monarch nonce-wd., a designation applied (a) to Neptune; (b) to a great fish; water-monger, † (a) a contemptuous designation for a water-caster; (b) a vendor of water; † water-nail, ? a nail that will bear exposure to water without rusting; water-organ, the hydraulicon or hydraulic organ (HYDRAULIC A. 2); water-oven, an oven surrounded by a chamber filled with hot water or steam; water-party, a pleasure-party making an excursion on the water; † water-piece, ? a piece of leather damaged by water in the process of manufacture; water-pillow (cf. water-bed); water-pistol, a weapon constructed to discharge a sudden jet of water or corrosive liquid; water-plate, a receptacle for hot water to be placed under a dinner-plate in order to keep the food warm; water-pocket, (a) a compartment in a steam-boiler containing a portion of the water; (b) a natural cavity in which water falls or collects; † water-poet, the title adopted by the writer John Taylor, who was a waterman on the Thames; hence gen. a writer of doggerel verse; † water-poise, a hydrometer; water-pore Bot. and Zool., a pore through which water is discharged; † water-pourer, the constellation Aquarius; water-power, the power of moving or falling water employed to drive machinery; concr. a fall or flow of water that can be thus utilized; water-press, a hydrostatic press; water-pressure, hydraulic pressure, so water-pressure engine (see quot. 1829); water-privilege U.S. (a) ‘the right to use water, esp. the right to use running water to turn machinery’; (b) ‘a stream or body of water capable of being utilized in driving machinery’ (Cent. Dict.); † water-rack (see quot. 1679); water-ram = RAM sb.1 5 a; water-rate, a rate or tax levied by a municipality or a water-company for the supply of water; water-rent = prec.; † water-rimer, the ‘water-poet’ Taylor; † water-room, space to move about in the water; water-sail, a small sail sometimes set under a lower studding-sail and reaching nearly to the water; water-sapphire, a variety of iolite; water-screw, a water-elevator on the principle of the Archimedean screw; also attrib. in water-screw-pump; water-shaft, (a) Coal Mining, etc., a shaft sunk to receive the water from an adjoining (coal-)shaft; (b) Salt-making (see quot.); † water-shake, a seismic disturbance of the water; water-shaken a., (of land) saturated with water; † water shard, a deepened channel made by banking up the sides of a stream; water-shear, -shier Sc., a water-parting; † water-shedder Astr. = sense 14; water-sill (see quot.); water-sink, (a) = SINK sb.1 1 c; (b) a swallow-hole or pot-hole; water-sky (see quot. 1823); water-slang, the slang of rowing-men; water-smoke = water-eynd; water-sneak slang (see quot. 1812); water-space, that part of a steam-boiler that lies below the steam-space, and holds the water to be evaporated; † water-spelling, hydromancy; water-spinel, a colorless variety of spinel; water-splash, a shallow stream or ford crossing a road; † water-sponge Sc., an ordinary sponge for washing; water-stead dial., the bed or course of a stream; a convenient spot on the bank of a stream where cattle can go to drink (Eng. Dial. Dict.); water-stock, shares in a water-company; water-stoma (pl. -stomata) = water-pore (Bot.); † water-stop = STOP sb.2 8 a; water-streak = WATER-LINE 2; water-system, (a) an assemblage of connected rivers and streams; a main stream and its tributaries, considered as a unity; (b) = water-vascular system; † water-tabby = TABBY sb. 1; water-tathe v. (see TATHE v. 1); water-telescope, an instrument for observing objects under water; water-thermometer, a thermometer filled with water instead of mercury, devised by Dalton for ascertaining the precise degree of temperature at which water attains its maximum density; water-thief poet., a pirate; water-tower, (a) a tower serving as a reservoir to deliver water at a required head; (b) a long iron tube, carried vertically on a wheeled frame, for discharging water to extinguish fires in the upper stories of buildings; water-treader, † (a) poet. a ship; (b) one who treads water (TREAD v. 7); water-tube, one of a set of tubular organs that open upon the exterior of certain invertebrates and are supposed to have an excretory function; water-tube boilor, a form of marine boiler in which the water circulates through tubes exposed to the gases of combustion; † water-twig = WATER-SHOOT 1; water-twist, cotton yarn spun on a water-frame; water-vapo(u)r, the invisible aqueous vapor present in the atmosphere; water-vascular a. Zool., pertaining to water-vessels (see next); water-vessel Zool., one of a system of vessels in which water circulates, in certain Invertebrata; water-wag, a kind of small boat used at Dublin; water-wagon, (a) U.S. = WATER-CART (Cent. Dict., Suppl.); also slang (see quot. 1904); (b) a kind of cumulus (see quots.); † water-wan [WANE sb.1], lack of water; † water-want a, nonce-wd., that can endure privation of water; water-watcher, a water-bailiff; water-wet, moisture of herbage due to saturation by rain; water-wit, the rough wit of watermen; water-woman, a woman who acts as a waterman; water-wood, timber that grows near water; water-worship, religious adoration paid to rivers or other bodies of water; so water-worshipper; † water-wrack, refuse left by a destructive flood.

791 1878.  D. Kemp, Man. Yacht Sailing, 377. *Water Ballast, water carried in tanks or breakers as ballast.

792 1885.  J. Runciman, Skippers & Shellbacks, 238. Bitterly repented having come out with nothing but his water-ballast.

793 1901.  Scotsman, 14 March, 6/8. The boat … has a water ballast tank.

794 1673.  Bunyan (title), Differences in Judgment about *Water-Baptism, No Bar to Communion.

795 a. 1716.  Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 212. That thus, and no otherwise the Apostles … did admit into the Christian Church all that were receiv’d thereinto, i. e. by the Water-Baptism, is evident.

796 a. 1879.  E. Backhouse, Ch. Hist., xi. (1885), 130. There were other sects at the same period who rejected both water-baptism and the Eucharist.

797 1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 360. On such road provide low *water bars across the road at intervals of thirty to forty feet. Ibid., 362. Water Bars. The purpose of the bar is to cast the surface water from the road to the side or sides before it has accumulated in such amount as to cut the ruts into gullies.

798 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 124/2. Weeks’s Tubular Waterbar Open Fire Grate.

799 1773.  W. Emerson, Princ. Mech. (ed. 3), 243. AF a *water barometer.

800 1866.  A. Steinmetz, Weathercasts, 143–4. The water barometer at the Royal Society’s rooms gave more than 13 inches (13·386) rise and fall for every inch of the mercurial column.

801 c. 1360.  in Mélanges Charles Bémont (1913), 83. Nullum potum habebit eo die nisi aquam, et idcirco dicitur *waterbedrip.

802 1827.  G. Darley, Sylvia, 16. With their varied colours blending Hues to shame the *water-bow.

803 1855.  Browning, Cleon, 252. They praise a fountain in my garden here Wherein a Naiad sends the water-bow Thin from her tube.

804 1640.  J. Gower, Ovid’s Festiv., I. 19. Sol leaving Capricorn, His race-horse to the *Water-boy doth turn.

805 1722.  Applebee’s Weekly Jrnl., 22 Sept., 2471/1. Mr. Lear landed at King’s-Arms Stairs, and put on the Water Boy’s Cap, the better to disguise himself.

806 1895.  Westm. Gaz., 7 Sept., 2/1. There were some waterboys out, an’ we wanted to get down afore there were any downfall.

807 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxvi. (1495), 686. And the places wherin suche Papirio Russhes growe is as marreys and moores by meedes and *water breches [L. aquarum ripis].

808 1669.  Holder, Elem. Speech, 5. Bells serve to proclaim a scare-fire, and (in some places) Water-breaches.

809 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 302. *Water-breakers,… being the extremities of the piers which meet and divide the water in its course.

810 1900.  Westm. Gaz., 27 Dec., 5/2. The commander … had life-belts sent adrift for every man, and six out of the seven were successful in being caught, but the seventh man secured himself to a water-breaker.

811 1851.  Woodward, Mollusca, I. (1880), 25. Stale water is so inimical to the *water-breathers, that [etc.].

812 1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 99. All crustacea are water breathers.

813 1861.  P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1860, 233. The … *Water-breathing Prosobranchs.

814 1592[?].  Greene’s Vision, Descr. Sir Geff. Chawcer. A Sleeuelesse Iacket large and wide … Of *water Chamlet did he weare.

815 1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 203. The pillar … is made hollow, for the purpose of receiving a *water candlestick of an inch diameter.

816 1859.  Todd’s Cycl. Anat., V. 507/1. The beautiful provision of *water-cells in the walls of the paunch or first cavity of the stomach [of a camel].

817 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xix. 136. Reduced … to a mere skeleton of ice, with water-cells between its walls.

818 1899.  Westm. Gaz., 8 May, 7/2. The lake has been enlarged, and a switchback railway and a *water chute promise rounds of delight.

819 1901.  Scotsman, 8 March, 6/7. A waterchute is rapidly rising into form in the river Kelvin.

820 1611.  Cotgr., Controngle, the Deaw-claw, or *water-claw of dogs.

821 1411.  Nottingham Rec., II. 86. j. *watre-cloth.

822 1813.  Examiner, 24 May, 325/2. The street being broken up by a *Water Company.

823 1877.  Huxley, Physiogr., 28. An independent source of water was supplied by the great water-companies.

824 1600.  Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 354/2. Duas nonas partes molendini … cum multuris, sequelis, lie knaifschippis, lie *watter coirnes, &c.

825 1814.  Mill of Inveramsay, 3 (Jam.). 1 boll of water-corn, being small corn, yearly, for each of the said three ploughs, for manufacturing and upholding the dams and water-gangs.

826 1482.  in Charters etc. Edin. (1871), 169. All vthir custumys and priuilegis … with thare *watir courtis attaichiamentis vnlawes and dewiteis.

827 1591.  in R. P. Cruden, Hist. Gravesend (1842), 203. Paid … for wine given to my Lords’ men when the Water Court was kept 0 0 8.

828 1844.  Queen’s Regul. Army, 74. The supply of Corn Sacks, and *Water Decks to the Cavalry.

829 1875.  J. Grant, One of ‘Six Hundred,’ xxii. 169. I also wish the corps to be supplied with water-decks.

830 1653.  Van Etten’s Math. Recreat., 170. Vitruvius writes of another manner of *water-Dyal more difficult.

831 1758.  E. Stone, Bion’s Math. Instrum., Suppl. 309. The Instruments for measuring Time, are Sun-Dials, Water-Dials, Sand-Dials [etc.].

832 1896.  Weekly Times, 24 Jan., 72/2. Lately two *‘water-diviners’ … visited the well, and both predicted that water would be found at certain indicated spots.

833 1902.  Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 59. At the Agricultural Show, the water-divider sits installed.

834 a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 19 July 1661. We tried our Diving Bell or engine in the *water-dock at Deptford.

835 1873.  Tyndall, Forms of Water, 4. When the vapour mingles with the cold air … it ceases to be vapour. Every bit of steam shrinks, when chilled, to a much more minute particle of water. The liquid particles thus produced form a kind of *water-dust of exceeding fineness, which floats in the air, and is called a cloud.

836 1884.  C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 257/2. Small pieces … are very well hardened in water-dust finely distributed by means of a stream of air or steam.

837 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. 169. Theodorus called them *water Egges [L. urina ova], whereof there neuer commeth any thing.

838 1908.  W. M. Ramsay, Luke the Physician, v. 191. Irrigation has never ceased and is still practised in certain districts, so that the essential principles of *water-engineering have not been wholly forgotten.

839 1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxv. 266. The *‘water-eynd’ or sea-smoke,… covers the marsh with a dense watery vapour.

840 1884.  Chamb. Jrnl., 3 May, 275/2. Another peculiar and uncomfortable phenomenon of the marshes is the water-eynd or sea-smoke, which, rolling up from the ocean, covers the whole landscape with a dense watery vapour.

841 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 534. Sometimes there was a Ferry or *Water-fare here.

842 1868.  Peard, Water-farm., ii. 12. Though many of our *water-farms have to be created, a large number require only to be improved. Ibid. (title), Practical *Water-farming.

843 1889.  Harper’s Mag., May, 859/1. A few miles away, the native lotus grows luxuriantly, a relic, it is believed, of Indian water-farming.

844 1868.  Thurnam, in Archæologia, XLII. 208. The third flat-stone is a quartzose boulder of the kind known as *‘water flints’ in this part of Somersetshire.

845 1786.  Burns, Holy Fair, xvi. Peebles, frae the *water-fit, Ascends the holy rostrum.

846 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 387. In the *water-frame the spindles are moved by an upright pulley.

847 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. IV. 159. ’Tis a tale what Josephus writes of the two pillars set up by the sonnes of Seth in Syria, the one of brick, fire-proof; the other of stone, *water-free.

848 1899.  R. Kipling, Stalky & Co., iii. 89. You spoke to Beetle yourself, didn’t you? Something about not bathing, and being a *water-funk?

849 1835.  R. M. Bird, Hawks, i. (1856), 4. The highway to the neighbouring *water-gap … ran through the estate.

850 1883.  Science, I. 325/2. Transverse valleys or water-gaps are never formed by the persevering action of an antecedent or pre-existing river on a slowly rising mountain fold or fault.

851 1891.  Hardwicke’s Sci.-Gossip, XXVII. 19. Fresh-Water Aquaria, [Reviewed] … A well-written description of these domestic *water-gardens and vivaria.

852 1902.  Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 176. A recent addition to the country house is the ‘water garden,’ in which a running brook is the centre and motif of the subsidiary ornaments of flowers, ferns, trees, shrubs, and mosses.

853 1915.  Edin. Rev., July, 111. The Dutch gardens, like those of Spain, were themselves water-gardens.

854 1231.  in Blount, Law Dict. (1691), s.v., Redditum … quem homines eorundem Huberti & Margariæ de Manerio suo de Elmour nobis reddere solebant singulis annis per manum Balivi nostri de Menstre-Worth, nomine *Watergavel.

855 1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Water-Gavel, a Rent paid in old Times for fishing in, or other Benefit received from some River, or Water.

856 1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 72. The amalgam of gold with mercury … is used principally by the workmen, in gilding in water-gold, termed *water-gilders.

857 1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 931. Until lately water-gilders made use of mercury for depositing gold on metallic surfaces.

858 1783.  Trans. Soc. Arts, I. 320. An Apparatus to prevent the ill effects of Mercury in *Water Gilding.

859 c. 1820.  Philos. Recreat., 151. Water-gilding upon Silver.

860 1855.  G. Gore, Pract. Chem., 72. The following solutions have been used for gilding by the simple immersion, or ‘water-gilding’ process.

861 1883.  Mollett, Dict. Art & Archæol., 343. Water-gilding, gilding with a thin coat of amalgam.

862 1898.  Westm. Gaz., 28 Oct., 4/2. A Processional cross…. The materials employed are silver, *water-gilt, carbuncles, green onyx, and enamel.

863 1897.  A. Hartshorne, Old Engl. Glasses, 60. The mediaeval ourinals—alike the retorts of the alchemist and the *water-globes for the poor Flemish flax-thread spinners … and the lace-makers weaving the subtle webs … of Brussels, Mechlin, or Valenciennes.

864 1590.  Sir J. Smythe, Disc. Conc. Weapons, 19 b. A kinde of *waterglewe to resist wet and moysture.

865 1678.  Evelyn, Pomona (ed. 3), 407. As you augment the Proportion of Ising-glass or Water-glew, so it will become more limpid and clear.

866 1725.  Bradley’s Family Dict., s.v. Glue, The Fish which is made use of to make Water-glue is very large.

867 1686.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2114/4. Lost…, a large black Boar Skin, lined with new Canvas, with four brass Claws gilt, with *Water-gold.

868 1839–41.  Lane, Arab. Nts., III. 220. I command thee to build for me, during this night, a lofty palace, and to decorate it with water-gold.

869 1855.  Browning, Old Pict. Florence, i. Where, white and wide And washed by the morning’s water-gold, Florence lay out on the mountain side.

870 1646.  Jrnls. Ho. Comm., V. 22/2. [A Lords’ ordinance] concerning the *Water Guards.

871 1812.  J. Smyth, Pract. Customs, 1. On the arrival of a Vessel from foreign parts, within the limits of a British Port, it is the duty of the Tide-surveyor, or the Officer who superintends the Water-guard, to proceed on board.

872 1828.  Blackw. Mag., XXIV. 552. A powerful preventive water-guard was placed here.

873 1868.  B. J. Lossing, Hudson, 351. The ‘water-guard’ was an aquatic corps, in the pay of the revolutionary government.

874 1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. v. 89. There are wayes to discharge a bullet … without any powder at all, as is done by *water and windegunnes.

875 1871.  Congressional Globe, 17 Feb., 1356/1. It occurred to me … [that] the gentleman from California had made what fishermen call a *‘waterhaul.’ [Laughter.] It surely must not have been what he expected.

876 1882.  Critic (Washington) 23 Feb. (Thornton). Ostensibly I went to testify as an expert in the Star-route cases, but I did not testify. You know that was another water-haul.

877 1639–40.  Q. Sess. Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.), IV. 161. Indenture of Conveyance … Together with all and singular wayes, *water-hedges, trees, ditches, fences, etc.

878 1802.  R. Warner, Tour Northern Counties, I. 161. Those pendant spiral masses called *water-icles or stalactites.

879 1824.  Carr, Cravin Gloss., Water-icles, stalactites.

880 1855.  Ogilvie, Suppl., *Waler-inch, the quantity of water flowing in one minute through a circular opening one inch in diameter, whose centre is one and one twelfth inches below a constant surface.

881 1869.  Eng. Mech., 17 Dec., 324/2. In Scotland … they [sc. turbines] are employed for driving what are called *water-jacks for roasting meat.

882 1886.  R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, i. 26. Becoming first the privileged helper of some waterjack.

883 1869.  Tanner, Clin. Med. (ed. 2), 62. The vessel is surrounded with a *water-jacket, so as to prevent the chloroform getting too cold to afford the requisite amount of vapour to the air passing over it.

884 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 181. The water-jacket furnace … was built with a view to avoid these costly repairs, but has proved an economical failure thus far.

885 1898.  Kipling, Fleet in Being, ii. 19. Three Maxims adorned the low nettings. Their water-jackets were filled up from an innocent tin-pot before the game began. It looked like slaking the thirst of devils.

886 1898.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 453. The whole [coagulometer] is surrounded by a water-jacket.

887 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 3. The roasting is effected in a peculiar *water-jacketed furnace or kiln, with a removable bottom.

888 1907.  Motor Boat, 19 Sept., 191/2. This is a frequent trouble with paraffin motors,… The cure is to fit a snifter valve to each cylinder to allow a water drip; this, combined with efficient *water-jacketing, should do away with the trouble.

889 1832.  G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 298. The Temple of Apollo, as another chamber is designated, contains a *water-jet.

890 1843.  Artizan, I. 220/1. Water-jet Propellers. A curious mode of propelling steam ships has been invented by Mr. Ruthven, who proposes to give a better direction to the propelling power by forcing jets of water through nozzles placed below the water-line.

891 1894.  W. H. White, Nav. Archit. (ed. 3), 585. The Water-jet Propeller.

892 1875.  S. Sidney, Bk. Horse, xx. 431. A big *water-jump.

893 1883.  Mrs. E. Kennard, Right Sort, xx. Take a good firm hold of his head, and set King Olaf just as fast as you please at the water-jump. He’ll clear it by yards.

894 1420.  in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1430, 30/1. The forsaid lord has grantit to … Michel the office of *watter keping and the office of chamerlanry of Ananderdale. Ibid. (1423), 30/2.

895 c. 1200.  Ormin, Ded., 193. Forr þatt he wollde uss *waterrkinn Till ure fulluhht hallȝhenn. Ibid., 18087. Forr Latin boc seȝȝþ þatt Ennon Bitacneþþ *waterrkinde.

896 1857.  C. Richardson, Instruct. Swimming, 51. The cord should be well twisted, or what sailors call *‘waterlaid.’

897 1888.  E. Clodd, Story Creation, iv. 29. The study of the erupted, fire-fused, and water-laid rocks.

898 1895.  Nation (N. Y.), 19 Dec., 451/1. The association of basic igneous rocks with the water-laid gravels.

899 1721.  Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 1, 2. The famous saturnalian feasts among the Romans, at which every scullion … had liberty to tell his master his own… ’Twas all *water-language at these times and no exceptions were to be taken.

900 1858.  Act 21 & 22 Vict., c. 44 § 19. As also all Wayleaves or *Waterleaves, Canals, [etc.].

901 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 518/1. *Water lesu, aquagium.

902 1777.  Maryland Jrnl., 4 Nov. (Thornton). A *Water Lot of Ground, on Fell’s Point.

903 1857.  [John Williamson Palmer], in Putnam’s Monthly Mag., Feb., 170/2. He had become a merchant of note, a man of water-lots and steamboats, and shares in desirable sites at the head of navigation.

904 1877.  Revised Statutes Ontario, I. 261, marg. Sales and appropriations of water lots declared to be legal.

905 1877.  Encycl. Brit., VII. 639/2. Two, or more rarely four or five, branched processes of the cloaca, the respiratory trees or *water-lungs, are ordinarily present.

906 1884.  F. J. Bell, in Proc. Zool. Soc., 254. The so-called water-lungs extend forwards to the anterior end of the body.

907 1794.  Stedman, Surinam (1813), II. 403. Sail boats called *water-manakins.

908 1840.  T. A. Trollope, Summer in Brittany, I. 381. A pretty walk along the valley, which is occupied by a succession of *water-meads.

909 1818.  Keats, Endym., III. 917. Meantime a glorious revelry began Before the *Water-Monarch.

910 1847.  Stoddart, Angler’s Comp., 250. Give me … the rush of some veteran water-monarch.

911 1623.  Hart, Arraignm. Ur., I. ii. 9. Empirickes, *water-mongers, and peticoat-physitians.

912 1835.  Weekly Dispatch, 4 Jan., 5/3. Competition was knocked on the head, and the inhabitants compelled to take water on any terms the water-mongers thought proper to dictate.

913 1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 72. While in particular stations water-mongers in wholesale have a shed.

914 1403.  in Compotus Rolls Obedientiaries St. Swithun’s, Winch. (1892), 425. In xlij bordis ad idem emptis viijs. ixd. In cc *Waturnailes ad idem emptis xijd.

915 1481–90.  Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 211. Item, fur dore nayle, and watter nayle, iiij. c. and qrtr. ij. s. ix. d. ob.

916 1647.  A. Ross, Mystag. Poet., xvi. (1675), 384. One of those musical instruments of old called Hydraula, we may call them *water-organs.

917 1649.  Ogilby, Virgil, Bucolicks, vii. (1684), 30, note. The Motion of Water maketh Musick, as we see in Water-Organs.

918 1852.  Seidel, Organ, 13. The invention of the water-organ by … Ctesibius, of Alexandria.

919 1857.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., 6. By exposing it to a temperature of from 212° to 250° in a *water oven or box of sheet copper.

920 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 111/1. Fitted with a patent water-oven, for keeping food hot.

921 1790.  Mrs. P. L. Powys, Passages fr. Diaries (1899), 248. August 21st. Mrs. Williams’ *water-party.

922 1798.  W. Windham, Diary (1866), 397. June, 6th.—Water party to Greenwich.

923 1834.  Disraeli, Lett., in Monypenny, Life (1910), I. 251. I had promised to join a water party in Sir Frank’s yacht.

924 1840.  Dickens, Sk. Yng. Couples, 29. There was a great water-party made up to go to Twickenham and dine.

925 1687.  Proclam., 29 April, in Lond. Gaz., No. 2240/2. We have Prohibited, and do hereby Prohibit the Exportation of all Linnen Rags, Glovers Clippings, Parchment Shreds, Calves Pates, and *Waterpieces.

926 1905.  Daily Chron., 29 Nov., 1/7. A burglar who is said to have carried a *‘water pistol’ and to have thrown or fired some ammonia into the eyes of a householder is under remand at Woolwich.

927 1747.  Gentl. Mag., XVII. 37/2. In chafing dish, tho’ most of late Prefer the cleanlier *water-plate.

928 1822.  Lamb, Elia, Distant Corresp. This kind of dish … requires to be served up hot; or sent off in water-plates, that your friend may have it almost as warm as yourself.

929 1890.  John Wesley Powell, in Century Mag., April, 916/2. We lunch by a *water-pocket that was filled by a storm two months ago.

930 1891.  Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Jan., 7/1. The boiler consists of a cylindrical upper part … 6 ft. long, and two lower prismatic water pockets also about 6 ft. in length.

931 1904.  Daily Chron., 19 July, 5/3. [Four persons] were crossing the Argentière Glacier to-day, when a water pocket burst, and the whole party were hurled against the rocks by the rush of water.

932 1678.  V. Alsop, Melius Inquir., I. i. 35. Your common Hackney Versifiers, or Water Poets, make one Verse for the Reason, and the other for the Rhime sake.

933 1660.  R. D’Acres, Elem. Water-drawing, 24. By which better appeared the vanity of the *water poyse.

934 1667.  Phil. Trans., II. 496. The Sea … was … much more Salt, the further we went; as I tryed by a Water-poise of Glass, with Quicksilver at the one end.

935 1772.  T. Percival, Ess. (1777), I. 342. Dr Hoffman, by menns of a glass waterpoise divided by lines, examined hydrostatically several different kinds of water.

936 1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 45. Two varieties of stoma may be distinguished, which may briefly be termed air pores (or stomata), and *water-pores.

937 1888.  Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 575. (Crinoidea) Water-pores, or short tubular canals with a median ciliated dilatation, open into the coelome from the exterior.

938 1565.  B. Googe, trans. Palingenius’ Zodiac, XI. QQ j. The *Waterpourer, and … the Fishes two that flote.

939 1573.  W. Bourne, Regim. Sea (1580), 59 b. The names of the Starres … Goates taile. Water pourers leg.

940 1836.  [Mrs. C. P. Traill], Backw. Canada, 89. There is great *water-power, both as regards the river and the fine broad creek.

941 a. 1861.  T. Winthrop, Life in Open Air (1863), 24. Far down, at some water-power nearest the reach of tide, a boom checks the march of this formidable body.

942 1871.  C. Marshall, Canadian Dominion, 42. The saw-mills are built where a great water-power can be obtained.

943 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 292. The hydrostatic or *water-press.

944 1849.  J. Glynn Constr. Cranes, 47–8. A self-acting crane … has been erected on the quay at Newcastle-on-Tyne…. It is worked by *water pressure.

945 1829.  Nat. Philos., Hydraulics, iii. (U.K.S.), 29. What is called the *Water-pressure Engine, being, in fact, a steam-engine, worked by water instead of steam.

946 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 969. The engines at present employed in the drainage of coal-mines are:—1. The water-wheel, and water-pressure engine.

947 1853.  Glynn, Power Water, 98. The first water-pressure engine used in England was erected … in the year 1765.

948 1812.  Mass. Spy, 9 Sept., 3/5. To be Sold! A *Water Privilege in Wrentham. Ibid. (1822), 31 July (Thornton). Valuable Mills and Water Privileges.

949 1849.  Thoreau, Week Concord Riv., Tuesday, 230. Some of the finest water privileges in the country still unimproved on the former stream.

950 1877.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 243. Just below this lode … Armstrong & Co. have located an admirable mill-site and water-privilege.

951 1879.  F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, i. I then went to a well belonging to a cottage near by where we had arranged for water-privileges, and filled two buckets with delicious water.

952 1679.  J. Goodman, Penil. Pard., I. iv. (1713), 114. We count the *Water-rack a very severe torture, to have that element forced down a man’s throat, till all the vessels of his body are stretched and tympanized.

953 1806.  trans. Mongolfier, in Nicholson’s Jrnl. Nat. Philos., XIV. 103. The following is the description of a *water-ram.

954 1829.  Nat. Philos., Hydraulics, ii. (U.K.S.), 20. The Water Ram or Bélier Hydraulique, as it was called by its inventor, M. Montgolfier, of Paris.

955 1877.  Wood, Nature’s Teach., Usef. Arts, x. 435. The water-ram with its globular valve.

956 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxvii. ‘What d’ye think it [the money] was all for?’… ‘For the shepherd’s *water-rate, Sammy.’ Ibid. (1839), Nickleby, xiv. Having an uncle who collected a water-rate.

957 1802.  R. Warner, Tour N. Counties, II. 285. Only 110l. is received from the *water-rents of the houses to which the element is conducted.

958 a. 1637.  B. Jonson, Discov. (1640), 97. Nay, if it were put to the question of the *Water-rimers workes, against Spencers; I doubt not, but they would find more Suffrages.

959 1653.  Walton, Angler, viii. 162. The Carp, if he have *water room and good feed, will grow to a very great bigness and length.

960 1675.  H. Teonge, Diary (1825), 36. We have made a sayle for the starne of the ship, called a *water sayle.

961 1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 127. Sloop’s Water-Sail … It is ocasionally spread under the boom of the main-sail in fair winds.

962 1883.  Man. Seamanship for Boys, 38. A watersail sets under the spanker-boom end.

963 1829.  Chapters Phys. Sci., 171. The blue variety of rock crystal, called *water sapphire.

964 1850.  Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., § 409. It [Iolite] is also called Cordierite and Water sapphire, the latter name being given by jewellers to a variety from Ceylon, which presents different colours in two directions.

965 1655.  Marq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 55. A double *Water-scrue, the innermost to mount the water, and the outermost for it to descend.

966 1773.  W. Emerson, Princ. Mech. (ed. 3), 228. Archimedes’s water screw.

967 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 409. The Water Screw Pump.

968 1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 2. Water which rises at the Coal-Shaft, may run into this *Water or half Shaft, to be drawn there by Horses or Water Wheels.

969 1869.  R. B. Smyth, Gold Fields Victoria, 625. Water-shaft, the drainage shaft, usually the deepest shaft in a mine.

970 1886.  Cheshire Gloss., Water-shaft, salt-making term. A shaft sunk to collect the fresh water near the main shaft.

971 1577.  Holinshed, Chron., II. 1039/2. On the Saterday after,… [1382], earely in the morning, chaunced an other earthquake, or as some write, a *watershake, beeyng so vehemente, that it made the Shippes in the hauens to beate one againste an other, [etc.].

972 1581.  Andreson, Serm. at Paules Crosse, 101. That vniuersall Earthquake, and like watershake, whiche draue vs into present feare.

973 1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 537. On a red greet, and *water-shaken soil.

974 1810.  J. Bailey, Agric. Durham, 9. A moist soft loam … known by the … epithet of ‘water shaken.’

975 1470.  Stat. Rolls Irel. 10 Edw. IV., c. 19. Repairerount le dit Gourge … come necessite requiert lessauntz … en la miente del file del auaunt dit ewe xxiiij. pees en laiour appelle le Kynges shard aultrement appelle le *Watersharde. Ibid. Watirshard.

976 1844.  Zoologist, II. 421. A line running from Loch Spey to Loch Monar, the course of which is regulated by the *water-shears between the east and west coasts.

977 1847.  Blackw. Mag., LXII. 162. The water-shier between the Spey and the Dee.

978 1546.  Gassar’s Prognost., c iij b. The cloudy sterre that is in the beginning of yE *Water sheder of the Waterer [L. apud initium effusionis aquæ Aquarii].

979 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 748. The overlying *Watersill or sandstone.

980 1894.  Northumbld. Gloss., Water-sill, a bed of fine-grained sandstone lying immediately below the great limestone in the south-west of Northumberland.

981 1798.  Hull Advertiser, 13 Oct., 1/2. An excellent kitchen and scullery, in which there is a pipe for water, a *water sink, with other conveniences.

982 1890.  Nature, 27 Nov., 93. The water which flows out of Malham Tarn and disappears down a ‘water-sink’ to the south of the tarn is the stream which emerges at Malham Cove.

983 1908.  Reginald Farrer, in Blackw. Mag., July, 93/2. It is in this white pavement that are found all the famous water-sinks that feed the streams far below.

984 1823.  Scoresby, Jrnl. Whale Fish., 472. *Water-sky, a dark appearance of the atmosphere, near the horizon, indicating clear water below it.

985 1881.  trans. Nordenskiöld’s Voy. ‘Vega,’ I. x. 518. A blue water-sky was still visible out to sea, indicating that open water was to be found there.

986 1860.  W. W. Reade, Liberty Hall, I. v. 77. He listened to their semi-nautical oaths,… and their *water-slang with veneration.

987 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, VII. 198. Spill Their thousand wreaths of dangling *water-smoke.

988 a. 1903.  ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Last Hope, viii. (1904), 69. Through the dazzling white of that which is known on these [Suffolk] coasts as the water-smoke the sky shone a cloudless blue.

989 1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., *Water-sneak, robbing ships or vessels on a navigable river or canal, by getting on board unperceived, generally in the night. The water-sneak is lately made a capital offence.

990 1849.  J. Glynn Constr. Cranes, 56. The *water-space round the ram being full three-fourths of an inch.

991 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xxii. (1592), 333. Varro reporteth … that Numa vsed *Waterspelling, and had communication with Diuels.

992 1883.  Encycl. Brit., XVI. 386. Chloro-spinel, grass-green with a yellowish white streak…. *Water-spinel colourless; from Ceylon.

993 1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxxvi. Yoho! down the pebbly dip, and through the merry *water-splash, and up at a canter to the level road again.

994 1886.  Bicycling News, 1 Oct. Last Saturday, two riders on a tandem tricycle attempted to rush through Shepperton ‘water splash.’

995 1902.  C. G. Harper, Holyhead Road, I. 229. The old road goes over what used to be a water-splash in the deep hollow.

996 1497.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 377. Item, that samyn day, in Cambuskynneth, for *water spowngis to the King, iij s. iiij d.

997 1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 437. I haif a water spunge for wa, within my wyde clokis, Than wring I it full wylely, and wetis my chekis.

998 1612.  Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 292. Watter spounges for chirurgeans.

999 1775.  J. Watson, Halifax, 548. *Waterstead, the Bed or Course of a river or brook.

1000 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Water-stead, an old name for the bed of a river.

1001 187[?].  E. Waugh, Tufts of Heather, Hermit Cobbler, iv. He fell … into th’ wayterstid at th’ back o’ th’ house.

1002 1894.  Westm. Gaz., 10 April, 2/3. (letter signed) A Radical Owner of *Water Stock.

1003 1903.  Daily Chron., 24 Nov., 4/3. Water stocks fell on the decision in regard to the New River dividends.

1004 1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 50. Other stomata … which may be called *Water-stomata or -pores.

1005 1585.  *water stop [see STOP sb.2 8 a].

1006 1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. i. The great sluice or water-stop, where the English were terribly exposed to the shot … of St. Roch.

1007 1797.  S. James, Voy., 38. The leak was above *water streak.

1008 1833.  Penny Cycl., I. 436/2. North America possesses an extensive *water-system on the Pacific slope.

1009 1859.  H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xix. Having crossed the valley of the Belloury,… I had come on to the water system of another main river.

1010 1704.  Swift, Tale of Tub, ii. 59. What is the Sea, but a Wastcoat of *Water-Tabby?

1011 1877.  Wood, Nature’s Teach., Optics, ii. 292. An instrument … called the *Water-Telescope.

1012 1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 360. Water Telescope, from Bohuslān.

1013 1799.  J. Dalton, in Mem. Lit. & Phil. Soc. Manch., V. II. 374. For this purpose I took a thermometer tube … and filled it with pure water … From repeated trials agreeing in the result, I find, that the *water thermometer is at the lowest point of the scale it is capable of, that is, water is of the greatest density at 42° 1/2 of the mercurial thermometer.

1014 1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 24. There be land rats, and water rats, *water theeues, and land theeues, I meane Pyrats.

1015 1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 304. A Tyrrhenian water-thief.

1016 1887.  Sir R. H. Roberts, In the Shires, iii. 37. In rear of the observatory a large *water-tower raised its head.

1017 1887.  Sci. Amer., 22 Jan., 53/2. The fall of a stand pipe or water tower, at Sheepshead Bay.

1018 1898.  ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, vi. 56. To the north of the waterworks … the curious may find to-day a few low buildings clustering round a water-tower.

1019 1916.  A. B. Reeve, Poisoned Pen, iii. 61. Tour engines, two hook-and-ladders, a water-tower, the battalion chief and a deputy are hurrying to that fire.

1020 1615.  Chapman, Odyss., XIV. 477. When the water-treader [ποντοπόρος νηῦς], farre away Had left the Land.

1021 1855.  Gentl. Mag., June, 582. Mr. Buckingham, the once renowned boy water-treader of Flushing.

1022 1888.  Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 575 (Crinoidea) Ciliated branched *water-tubes depend from the ring and origins of the radial vessels and open into the coelome.

1023 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Water-tube Boiler.

1024 1894.  Westm. Gaz., 18 Oct., 8/2. The Ardent … is fitted with the Thornycroft water-tube boilers.

1025 1601.  Holland, Pliny, XVII. xiii. I. 515. The shoots and suckers that put out at the root, as also other *water-twigs.

1026 1819.  Encycl. Brit., Suppl. III. 395/1. The yarn produced by this mode of spinning is called *Water Twist.

1027 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 366. Fig. 347 is a diagram of Arkwright’s original water-frame spinning machine, called afterwards the water-twist frame.

1028 1844.  G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., i. 33. The name ‘water-twist’ arose from the circumstance that … Arkwright’s [machine] was worked by a water-wheel.

1029 1878.  Blakely, Dict. Commerc. Inform., Water-twist, a kind of cotton-twist, of which there are common, seconds, and best seconds.

1030 1880.  Geikie, Phys. Geog., ii. 44. By the term *water-vapour, or aqueous-vapour, is meant the invisible steam always present in the air.

1031 1908.  Westm. Gaz., 31 Jan., 2/1. The latest statement by Sir William Huggins on the existence of water-vapour on Mars is that there is no conclusive proof.

1032 1870.  Rolleston, Anim. Life, p. lxxxvi. [In other Mollusca] a multi-ramified *water-vascular system appears to spread itself throughout the body, without becoming directly continuous with the blood-vessels.

1033 1895.  Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), I. p. xx. In the jelly-fishes the stomach opens into four or more water-vascular canals or passages.

1034 1867.  J. Hogg, Microsc., II. iii. 562. There remains … the ambulacral vessels of the Echinodermata. These are frequently termed *‘water-vessels.’

1035 1894.  T. B. Middleton, in Yachting (Badm. Libr.), II. 146. *‘Water wags’ and ‘Mermaids’ of Dublin Bay.

1036 1894.  Field, 9 June, 838/1. Match for Waterwags, for a cup presented by the Dublin and Wicklow Railway Company.

1037 1815.  T. Forster, Atmos. Phenom., 59. Some of these little cumuli … flying along rapidly between the showers, are … called by the vulgar *water waggons.

1038 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 251. The ominous scud is the usunl harbinger of the rain-cloud, and is therefore commonly called ‘messengers,’ ‘carriers’ or ‘water-waggons.’

1039 1904.  (Amer.) Dialect Notes, II. 402. ‘To be on the water wagon,’ to abstain from hard drinks. N.Y.

1040 13[?].  Cursor M., 6389 (Gött.). Þar þai had mekil *watir wan.

1041 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. I. Ark, 413. The Camell *water-want [Fr. souffre-soif].

1042 1862.  Ann. Reg., 27. The wilful murder of Edward Atkinson, *water-watcher.

1043 1888.  Barrie, Auld Licht Idylls (1892), 58. ‘Water-watchers,’ as the bailiffs were sometimes called.

1044 1778.  [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., 32 Nov. 1775. If possible, mix it perfectly full of sap, but perfectly free from *water-wet.

1045 1804.  A. Hunter, Georg. Ess., VI. 229. The clover … should be perfectly free from water-wet.

1046 1767.  S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 102. That vile ribaldry called *water-wit.

1047 1863.  Hawthorne, Our Old Home, Up Thames, II. 143. The old rough water-wit for which the Thames used to be so celebrated.

1048 1731.  Flying Post, 28 Jan., 2/2. A *Water-Woman was found suddenly dead, and … it was thought she was strangled.

1049 1762.  Goldsm., Ess., Fem. Warriors. The water-women of Plymouth.

1050 1600.  Surflet, Country Farm, VII. xv. 824. The other sort of *water woode is the willow.

1051 1750.  W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., II. ii. 139 (E.D.D.). An alder, a withy, a willow or other water-wood hedge.

1052 1871.  Tylor, Prim. Cult., xv. II. 192. Africa displays well the rites of *water-worship. Ibid., xvi. II. 248. Savage *water-worshippers.

1053 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. Eden, 401. When pale Phlegm, or saffron-colour’d Choler,… print upon our Understanding’s Tables; That, *Water-wracks; this other, flamefull Fables.

1054 1658.  Melrose Regality Rec. (S.H.S.), I. 174. Quhen tymber treis or onie uther fewall or watter wrak cumes doune the river and lands there.

1055 1834.  Pringle, Afr. Sk., ii. 151. The remains of water-wrack … afforded striking proof that at certain seasons this diminutive rill becomes a mighty … flood.

1056   30.  Prefixed to names of animals to denote species inhabiting the water, as water-animal, -bat, -beast, -beetle, -bird, -butterfly, -coot, -eel, -finch, -frog, -gnat, † -hydra, -insect, -louse, -raven, -reptile, -shrew(-mouse), -shrimp, -snail, -toad. Also water-adder, any aquatic serpent resembling an adder; water-antelope = WATERBUCK; water-ask dial., a newt; water-beetle, a beetle of the group Hydradephaga; water-blackbird, the dipper, Cinclus aquaticus; water-boa, the anaconda; water-boatman, a water-bug of either of the families Notonectidæ or Corixidæ (Corisidæ); water-buffalo = water-cow; waterbug, (a) any heteropterous insect of aquatic habit; (b) U.S. the cockroach, Blatta orientalis; water-bull, a legendary amphibious animal resembling a bull; water-cavy = water-hog; water-chat, a bird of the South American group Fluvicolinæ; water-cow, (a) the common domestic Indian buffalo, Bos bubalus or Bubalus buffelus; (b) a legendary amphibious animal resembling a cow; cf. water-bull; water-crake, † (a) the water-ouzel or dipper, Cinclus aquaticus; (b) the spotted crake, Porzana maruetta; (c) the water-rail, Rallus aquaticus; water-creeper, -cricket, the larva of the stone-fly; water-crow, (a) the dipper, Cinclus aquaticus; (b) the coot, Fulica atra; (c) southern U.S. the snakebird, Plotus anhinga; water-deer, a small Chinese musk-deer, Hydropotes inermis; water-devil, (a) the larva of the great water-beetle, Hydrophilus piceus (Ogilvie, 1850); (b) U.S. ‘the dobson or hellgrammite’ (Cent. Dict.); water-doe, a female waterbuck; water-eagle (see quot.); water-eft = water-newt; water-flea, any of the small crustaceans that hop like fleas; water-hog, the capybara; water-junket, an alleged name for the sandpiper; water-lawyer jocular, a shark; water-leech = LEECH sb.2 1; water-lizard, a newt or other lizard-like animal inhabiting the water; water-mite = water-tick; water-moccasin U.S. (see MOCCASIN 3); water-moth, a caddis-fly; water-newt, an aquatic newt, a triton; water-opossum = YAPOCK; water-ouzel (see OUZEL 2 c); water-ox = water-cow; † water-parrot, some microscopic insect; water-pheasant, (a) the pheasant-tailed jacana, Hydrophasianus chirurgus; (b) the pintail duck; (c) the goosander, Mergus merganser; water-piet (see PIET 1 b); water-pipit, Anthus aquaticus; water-puppy = WATER-DOG 3 b; water-rabbit U.S., the swamp-hare of the Mississippi valley, Lepus aquaticus; water-rattle, -rattler, the diamond rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus; water-rattle-snake, an incorrect name for the water-viper; water-salamander (see SALAMANDER 1 b); water-scorpion, an aquatic bug of the family Nepidæ; † water-softling (see quot.); water-thrush, (a) the water-ouzel or dipper; (b) a bird of the American genus Seiurus; water-tick = WATER-SPIDER; water-tiger, a beetle of the genus Dytiscus or family Dytiscidæ; water-viper, any poisonous aquatic snake, esp. Ancistrodon piscivorus; water-weasel [= G. wasserwiesel], an otter; water-wolf [cf. G. wasserwolf], a rapacious aquatic animal; in quots. applied to the pike [cf. L. lupus] and the otter.

1057 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. ix. (1495), 759. *Water adders dwelle in brymmes of waters.

1058 14[?].  Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 705/37. Hic idrus, a watyrnedyre.

1059 1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 62. Fishes and other *Water-Animals cannot abide without the use of it [sc. air].

1060 1875.  W. H. Drummond, Large Game S. & S.E. Afr., 367. The *water-antelope (Kobus ellipsiprymnus).

1061 1820.  Marmaiden of Clyde, xviii. in Edin. Mag., VI. 423. The *water-asks, sae cauld and saft, Crawl’d ower the glittie flure.

1062 1892.  Jane Barlow, Irish Idylls, v. 113–4. She’s not the fool, anyway, to be dhrinkin’ out o’ wather-pools thick wid them black wather-asks, that ’ud lep down your throath as soon as look at you.

1063 1681.  Grew, Musæum, I. § iv. i. 54. Barlæus mentions a *Water-Bat, which the Natives of Brasile call Guacucua.

1064 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxxv. (1495), 147. Some *water beestes doon brethe as the dolphyn.

1065 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 372/2. Otur, watyr beest, lutricius.

1066 1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 46. Hydrocantharus, the *Water-beetle.

1067 1771.  Phil. Trans., LXI. 316. The dytisci or water-beetles.

1068 1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xlv. 254. The common water-beetle (Dytiscus marginalis).

1069 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 127/1. Doppar, or dydoppar, *watyr byrde, mergulus.

1070 1803.  Leyden, Scenes Infancy, II. xxii. The water-birds … Oft rouse the peasant from his tranquil dream.

1071 1917.  W. Warfield, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 645/2. Large water-birds rose from the river as we approached, and laboured clumsily off—herons, pelicans, or muscovy ducks.

1072 1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., II. xv. 235. It is as big, or a little bigger than a *Water-Blackbird, or Crake.

1073 1802.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. 345. *Water Boa. Boa Enydris.

1074 1863.  Bates, Nat. Amazons, iii. (1864), 60. The hideous Sucurujù, or water boa (Eunectes Murinus), which sometimes attacks man.

1075 1871.  Kingsley, At Last, xiii. The Huillia, Anaconda, or Water-boa, bears only a few large round spots.

1076 1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., iv. (1818), I. 109. The *water boatman, (Notonecta glauca, L.) an insect related to the Cimicidæ … made me suffer still more severely.

1077 1910.  G. H. Carpenter, in Encycl. Brit., XIII. 261/1. The Notonectidæ, or ‘water boatmen.’… By means of the oar-like hind-legs they swim actively through the water with the ventral surface upwards.

1078 1894.  Outing, XXIV. 438/1. A rude wooden plow … drawn by the clumsy Asiatic or *water buffalo.

1079 1750.  Glandville, in W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. II. 71. Of *Water-bugs.—I have made Observations on Bugs of different Kinds in stagnate Waters.

1080 1778.  J. Carver, Trav. N. Amer., xviii. 493. The Water Bug … has many legs, by means of which it passes over the surface of the water with such incredible swiftness that [etc.].

1081 1816.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxiii. (1818), II. 364. The common water-bug (Gerris lacustris, Latr.), though it never goes under water, will sometimes swim upon the surface.

1082 1868.  Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, xii. Fred … did his best to upset both [the other boats] by paddling about in a wherry like a disturbed water-bug.

1083 1901.  Lee Bacon, Houseboat on Nile, 38. Why did we want hedgehogs on a dahabéah? Nothing more or less than that they are supposed to eat water-bugs.

1084 1726–31.  Waldron, Descr. Isle of Man (1865), 43. The *water-bull.

1085 1815.  Scott, Lett. to Morritt, 22 Dec. The persuasion of the solitary shepherds who approach its [a lake’s] banks, is, that it is tenanted by a very large amphibious animal called by them a water-bull.

1086 1901.  Rhys, Celtic Folklore, I. iv. 284. The water-bull or tarroo ushtey, as he is called in Manx,… is described as a sort of bull disporting himself about the pools and swamps.

1087 1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 39. Perla … the Dragon-Fly, or Adders-Boult, and *Water-Butterflies.

1088 1681.  Grew, Musæum, I. § vii. i. 157. Water-Butterfly, because they most frequent Rivers and watry places.

1089 1885.  Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), V. 82. The gigantic *Water Cavy, or Capybara.

1090 1837.  Swainson, Nat. Hist. Birds, II. 5. The *water-chats (Fluvicolinæ), which seem to connect the tyrant shrikes to the flycatching family.

1091 1852.  D. M. Moir, Poet. Wks., II. 155. On the lakelet blue, the water-coot Oar’d forth with her sable young.

1092 1827.  Scott, Jrnl., 23 Nov. A set of his kinsmen,… believing that the fabulous *Water Cow inhabited a small lake near his house, resolved to drag the monster into day.

1093 1895.  Antiquary, July, 217. A water-cow is said to inhabit St. Mary’s Loch near Yarrow.

1094 1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., II. vii. 149. The Water-Ouzel or *Water-Crake: Merula aquatica.

1095 1802.  Montagu, Ornith. Dict., Ouzel-Water…. Provincial, Water Crake.

1096 1811.  Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), I. 35. I knocked down 15 snipes and 2 water crakes.

1097 1837.  Kirkbride, Northern Angler, 35. The Stone Fly … is bred from an insect, found under large stones in the river, called the water cricket, or *creeper.

1098 c. 1711.  Petiver, Gazophyl., VII. Tab. 70. *Water Cricket,… This is a slow creeping Insect found at the bottom of Ponds amongst the Weeds.

1099 1855.  Kingsley, Glaucus (1878), 207. The most interesting of all the tribes of the Naiads … are the little water-cricket.

1100 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xl. (1495), 156. Some fowles haue galles pryuely hydde in a gutte as culuours or douues and *water crowes and swallowes.

1101 1544.  Turner, Avium Præcip., B 3. Morpetenses … cornicem uocant aquaticum [marg. a water craw].

1102 1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 146. The Water Crow … the skinne of which is used to be worne upon the stomach causing concoction.

1103 1804.  Bewick, Brit. Birds, II. 16. Water Ouzel. Water Crow, Dipper, or Water Piot.

1104 1832.  Proc. Berwick. Nat. Club, IX. 504. Of the Thrush family, the Dipper or Watercrow frequented all the streams.

1105 1877–82.  Cassell’s Nat. Hist., III. 63. The Chinese *Water Deer. Hydropotes inermis.

1106 1850.  R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 121/2. A troop of beautiful *water does.

1107 1891.  Century Dict., *Water eagle, the fish hawk or osprey. (Rare.)

1108 1895.  Rider Haggard, Heart of World, xxv. (1899), 340. Here and there a human corpse, over which already the water-eagles began to gather.

1109 1447.  Bower, Fordun’s Scotichron., XIV. xxxi. (1759), II. 376. Als sikir for to hald as a *water eeil.

1110 1768.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 27 July. The *water-eft has not, that I can discern, the least appearance of any gills.

1111 a. 1400.  Nominale (Skeat), 793. Freseie et pynceuole, Nytcrowe and *watirfynche.

1112 1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 74/2. Pulex aquaticus,… a *water fle.

1113 1752.  J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 52. The smooth short-horned Dytiscus … is called by some Pulex aquaticus, the water Flea.

1114 1866.  E. C. Rye, Brit. Beetles, 66. The Gyrini, commonly known as ‘water-fleas,’ ‘whirlwigs,’ or ‘whirligigs.’

1115 a. 1050.  Chrodegang’s Rule (Napier), 96. *Wæterfrocgan hwilon hi ma ʓesihð of wætere, & swaþeah secað to fullicum morseohtrum.

1116 1561.  Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 225 b. They play the waterfrogs, singyng croake croake.

1117 1655.  Walton, Angler, xx. (1661), 242. Lebault allows Water-frogs to be good meat … if they be fat.

1118 1731.  Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, II. 70. The Water-Frog.

1119 1877.  Wood, Nature’s Teach., Usef. Arts, xiii. 467. The common *Water-gnat (Gerris), which may be seen in almost any piece of fresh water.

1120 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., III. 191. The Capibara resembles an hog of about two years old,… some naturalists have called it the *Water-hog.

1121 1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., x. 291. He had loaded his stomach with water-hog.

1122 1717.  Parnell, Battle Frogs & Mice, I. 110. Lo! from the deep a *Water-Hydra rose.

1123 1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Notonecta, certain *water Insects, not much unlike small Beetles.

1124 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VI. 166. Whether it be that they [gold and silver fish] feed on the water-insects, too minute for our observation, or [etc.].

1125 1852.  Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, IV. 351. Actitis Hypoleucos. The White-breasted Weet-weet. Common Sandpiper. Willywicket. *Water Junket. Fiddler.

1126 1794.  Sporting Mag., III. 50. A *water-lawyer, or, in plainer terms a shark was caught last month near Workington.

1127 1382.  Wyclif, Prov. xxx. 15. *Water lechis two ben doȝtris, seiende, Bring on, bring on.

1128 c. 1460.  J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 874. His shon or slyppers [to be] as browne as is þe waturleche.

1129 1608.  Topsell, Serpents, 212. Of the Nevte or *Water Lizard.

1130 1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xiv. 139. Such an humidity is observed in Newtes, or water-Lizards.

1131 1885.  Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), III. 429. The family of water-lizards, the Varanidæ.

1132 1750.  Glandville, in W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. II. 71. Or *Water-lice.—I have often seen these, in stagnate Waters…. They are very swift in Motion.

1133 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VII. 246. The wood-louse, the water-louse, and the scorpion never acquire wings.

1134 1750.  Glandville, in W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. II. 72. Of *Water-maggots, or Grubs.—I have seen various kinds of these in stagnate Waters.

1135 1816.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxiii. (1818), II. 365. The little *water-mites (Hydrachna) may be seen in every pool … working their little legs with great rapidity.

1136 1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 58. Tinea aquatica, the *Water-Moth.

1137 1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 216. The Water-Moths and their larvæ are well known to the angler as bait, under the names of Caddice-Flies and Caddice-Worms. Ibid., 219. Water-Moths (Phryganeidæ.).

1138 1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 26. Lacerta Venenata aquatica, the *Water Newt or Evet.

1139 1768.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 18 June. The salamandra aquatica of Ray (the water-newt or eft) will frequently bite at the angler’s bait.

1140 1858.  Wood, Common Obj. Country, iv. (1860), 48. Two species of these creatures are found in this country, the common Water-Newt and the Smooth Newt.

1141 1846.  Waterhouse, Mammalia, I. 533. The Yapock, or *Water Opossum.

1142 1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, viii. 356. I had selected eight of my best *water-oxen.

1143 1884.  Littell’s Living Age, CLXI. No. 2077. 88. Water-oxen turned up their noses at us.

1144 1771.  Phil. Trans., LXI. 242. The *water parrot … is represented … as hermaphrodite.

1145 1781–2.  T. Jefferson, Notes Virginia (1787), 118. (List of birds) *Water-pheasant.

1146 1815.  Sporting Mag., XLV. 256. A water pheasant, a bird not very common, was shot … near Lewes.

1147 1900.  Pollok & Thom, Sports Burma, ii. 34. The water-fowl … are very numerous, but none of them are worth mentioning excepting the water-pheasant.

1148 1881.  Dresser, List European Birds, 13. Anthus spinotella, *Water-Pipit.

1149 1896.  A. G. Butler, Brit. Birds, I. 205. The Water-Pipit. Anthus spipoletta, Linn.

1150 1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), Water Dogs,…; sometimes called *Water-puppies and Ground-puppies.

1151 1876.  Forest & Stream, 20 July, VI. 385/3. The water puppy (Menobranchus lateralis) inhabits the lake [Erie].

1152 1864.  Webster, *Water-rabbit.

1153 1877–82.  Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 317. The *Water-rattle … abounds in East Florida, the Gulf States, and Mexico.

1154 1736.  Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXIX. 254. This Sort is commonly called in Carolina, the *Water Rattle-Snake, not that it hath a Rattle, but from the Likeness of its Colour, and its Bite being as mortal.

1155 1601.  Holland, Pliny, XI. xxxvii. I. 332. Some reasonlesse creatures … are by nature bald, as … certaine *water Ravens [L. corvi aquatici].

1156 1825.  Scott, Betrothed, xxiii. Watching for such small fish or *water-reptiles as might chance to pass by its lonely station.

1157 1681.  Grew, Musæum, I. § vii. iii. 176. The *Water-Scorpion … may be easily known by its pointed Tail.

1158 1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Scorpion, Water Scorpion, scorpio palustris,… is a very thin and light little creature, yet is but a very slow mover.

1159 1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xxxviii. 55. The water-scorpion tribe.

1160 1861.  Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. IV. i. 226. The Grey Nepa (Nepa Cinerea, Linn.), commonly called Water Scorpion or Water Spider.

1161 1769.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 8 Dec. De Buffon, I know, has described the *water shrew-mouse; but still I am pleased to find you have discovered it in Lincolnshire.

1162 1770.  Pennant, Brit. Zool. Illustr., IV. 83. Water Shrew-mouse. Ibid. (1771), Syn. Quadrupeds, 308 Water Shrew.

1163 1860.  Gosse, Rom. Nat. Hist., 215. Almost the tiniest of all quadrupeds, the water-shrew.

1164 1750.  Glandville, in W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. II. 72. Of the *Water-shrimp.—I have seen a Sort of Insect, in stagnate Waters, to swim on his Side in a swift Motion, almost in Shape like a Sea-shrimp, very transparent.

1165 1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, iii. 21. The water-shrimp is the favourite bait for them [perch].

1166 1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 52. Made lyke a litle *water snayle or a crooked rammis horne.

1167 1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv., xii. 109. Water-rails … feed upon water-snails and water-flies.

1168 1835–6.  Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 626/1. Examining the young of the viviparous water-snail.

1169 1656.  W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 158. 47. There are also Sea-spiders, having neither bloud, nor fat, nor prickles (they call them *Water-softlings).

1170 1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 103. Trynga … the *Water-Thrush.

1171 1808–13.  A. Wilson & Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. (1831), II. 125. Turdus Aquaticus, Wilson, Water Thrush.

1172 1872.  Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 106. Seiurus noveboracensis. Water Thrush. Ibid., S. ludovicianus. Large-billed Water Thrush.

1173 1864.  Webster, *Water-tick.

1174 1870.  P. M. Duncan, Blanchard’s Transf. Insects, 436. The Hydrachnidæ, or water ticks or mites.

1175 1889.  Mary E. Bamford, Up & Down Brooks, v. 59. In April one may find in this brook the nearly full-grown larvæ of those beetles known as the *Water-tigers, or Dytiscidæ.

1176 1750.  Glandville, in W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. II. 69. I have seen a *Water-toad to ride a Carp till he has starved it to Death.

1177 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VII. 106. Of this animal there are several varieties; such as the Water and the Land Toad…. The water toad is not so large as the other.

1178 1736.  Mortimer, Nat. Hist. Carolina, in Phil. Trans., XXXIX. 254. Vipera Aquatica: The *Water Viper.

1179 1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Belette, An Otter, or *water Weesill.

1180 1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 140. There are found water-weezels, red and white, chiefly in the pools near the Sea.

1181 1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 162. No animal is so hard-biting as an otter…. None but a very varmint dog … will face one of these water-weazels a second time.

1182 1606.  S. Gardiner, Bk. Angling, 26. Sanguinarie souldiers, the Pike and *water-wolues of the Ocean of this worlde.

1183 1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxix., note. Innumerable eels, great water-wolves and pickerel perches [etc.].

1184 1907.  Athenæum, 10 Aug., 158/2. The poor otter, against which, as the ‘water-wolf,’ ruthless war is waged.

1185   31.  In combinations denoting vegetable growths that live in water, as water-bloom, -frond, -herb, -herbage, -plant, shrub; also prefixed to plant-names to designate species or varieties that live in water (or, sometimes, that contain or emit water), as water-avens, -chickweed, -crowfoot, -figwort, gladiole, -gladiolus, -orchid, -palm, ranunculus, -reed, -rush, -speedwell, -tupelo. Also † water agrimony (see AGRIMONY 2 c); water-aloe = WATER-SOLDIER; water-apple, the sweet-sop, Anona squamosa; water archer (see ARCHER 6); water-ash, an ash of either of two American species, Fraxinus platycarpa and F. sambucifolia, inhabiting wet ground; water-bean, the Egyptian water-lily, Nelumbium speciosum; water-beech (a) the American plane-tree, Platanus occidentalis; (b) the American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana; water-betony, = water-figwort; water-blinks (see BLINKS 2); water-blob dial., a name for the marsh-marigold and similar plants; water-buttercup (see BUTTERCUP 2); water-caltrop (see CALTROP 3); water-cat’s-tail = CAT’S-TAIL 2 b; water-chestnut, the saligot; † water dragon, Calla palustris; water-dropwort (see DROPWORT 2); water-elder, the guelder rose; water-elm, Ulmus americana (Cent. Dict., 1891); water-feather (-foil) = water-violet; water-fern (see OSMUND2 2); water flag (see FLAG sb.1 1 b); water-flannel, a fresh-water alga, Conferva crispa, the matted filaments of which resemble flannel; water germander (see GERMANDER); water gillyflower = water-violet; water-gum, a name for various trees of the Australian genera Tristania and Callistemon; water-gut, an alga, Ulva enteromorpha, which when floating resembles the intestines of an animal; water-hemlock (see HEMLOCK 1 b); water-hemp (see HEMP sb. 5); water-horehound (see HOREHOUND 1 b); water-hyssop (see quot.); water-lemon, the edible fruit of a species of passion-flower, Passiflora laurifolia; water-lentil (see LENTIL 1 b); water-lettuce, the tropical duckweed, Pistia Stratiotes; water-locust, a species of locust-tree, Gleditschia monosperma, growing in watery or swampy ground; † water-mango (see MANGO 3); water-maple = red maple (see MAPLE 1 b); water-milfoil (see MILFOIL 2); water-moss, a moss of the aquatic genus Fontinalis; water-net, a fresh-water alga, Hydrodictyon utriculare; water nut = water-chestnut; water-oats = wild rice (RICE2 4); water-pennywort (see PENNYWORT 2); water-pimpernel (see PIMPERNEL 3 b); water-plantain (see PLANTAIN1 2); water-purpie Sc., brooklime, Veronica Beccabunga; water-purslane (see PURSLANE 2); water-radish (see quots.); water-rice = wild-rice, RICE2 4; † water-rose = WATER-LILY; water sallow (see quot.); † water-shield, a plant of the sub-order Cabombaceæ, having shield-like leaves; water-smartweed, the American plant Polygonum acre; water-sorrel (see SORREL sb.1 1 b); water-starwort (also -star, -stargrass) (see STARWORT 3); water-target = water-shield; water-torch, the reed-mace, Typha latifolia; water-trefoil, the bog-bean or buckbean; water-violet [= G. wasserveil, -viole], the feather-foil, Hottonia palustris; water-withe, -withy, Vitis caribæa of the W. Indies; water-yarrow = water-violet.

1186 1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Aloides, Aloides;… Stratiotes foliis Aloes semine longo…. The *Water Aloe, or Fresh-Water Soldier.

1187 1855.  Anne Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 192. Stratiotes aloides (Water-Soldier) … is often called Water Aloe.

1188 1696.  Sloane, Catal. Plantarum Jamaica, 205. *Water-Apple, or Sweet-Apple.

1189 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 305. Apple, Water, Annona.

1190 1717.  Petiveriana, III. 185. *Water-Ash. Is brittle, the Bark is Food for the Bevers.

1191 1777.  Lightfoot, Flora Scot., I. 274. Geum … rivale. Red *Water Avens.

1192 1832.  Lytton, Eugene Aram, I. vi. The common enchanter’s night-shade, the silver weed, and the water-aven [sic].

1193 1883.  Grant Allen, in Longman’s Mag., July, 308. The marshy water-avens has exactly the same dusky purplish-yellow tint as the marshy comarum.

1194 1846.  Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 414. Nelumbiacæ. *Water Beans.

1195 1850.  Ogilvie, Water-bean.

1196 1770.  J. R. Forster, trans. Kalm’s Trav. N. Amer., I. 67. Platanus occidentalis, the *water-beech.

1197 1852.  Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 93. It takes the name of buttonwood, sycamore, plane-tree, and water-beech, according to locality.

1198 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxi. 44. Called … in English Broune wurie, and *Water Betony.

1199 1782.  W. Curtis, Brown-tail Moth, 6. Others … as the Phalæna Verbasci, or Water Betony Moth, which appears to be equally fond of the Mullein and Water Betony.

1200 1860.  Mayne, Expos. Lex., Water betony.

1201 1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstrel, I. 77. And sigh with anxious, eager dream, For *water-blobs amid the stream.

1202 1820.  Shelley, Sensit. Pl., III. 42. The *water-blooms under the rivulet Fell from the stalks on which they were set.

1203 1870.  Blackw. Mag., Oct., 469/2. Those long sweeping rushy stalks which bear the pretty white blossom called the *water-buttercup.

1204 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cclxxxiv. 676. *Water Caltrops hath long slender stalkes, growing vp and rising from the bottome of the water.

1205 1681.  Grew, Musæum, II. § iii. ii. 232. The Water-Caltrop. Tribulus aquaticus.

1206 1658.  Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., I. xiv. 969. The eyes are black, as the horns are also, which are swoln like *water-cats-tails.

1207 1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 402. The *Water-Chesnut (Trapa natans).

1208 1870.  Pharmaceut. Jrnl., 13 Aug., 125/1. The name of ‘water chestnuts’ has been applied to the fruits of several species of Trapa.

1209 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., 271. Collitriche, Star-Headed *Water-Chickweed.

1210 c. 1550.  Lloyd, Treas. Health, I 5. *Watercrowfote stamped wyth crommes of bread and a plaster made thereof taketh awaie the heate of the stomake.

1211 1902.  Cornish, Naturalist Thames, 14. In the shallows grow water-crowfoot, with waving green hair under water.

1212 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, III. vi. 322. Dracunculus palustris,… in Englishe, *water Dragon or Marshe Dragon.

1213 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, III. lxxii. 1237. Sambuca palustris, the *water Elder, groweth by running streames and water courses.

1214 1650.  [W. Howe], Phytol. Brit., 108. Sambucus aquatica … Water Elder.

1215 1838.  Loudon, Arboretum, II. 1039. Viburnum Opulus. The Guelder Rose … Marsh Elder, Rose Elder, Water Elder.

1216 1818.  T. Nuttall, Genera N. Amer. Pl., I. 120. Hottonia … *Water-feather.

1217 1860.  Mayne, Expos. Lex., *Water-Figwort, Greater, common name for the Scrophularia aquatica.

1218 1849.  Balfour, Man. Bot., § 1129. Confurva crispa, called *Water-flannel.

1219 1898.  H. G. Wells, War of Worlds, II. vi. 242. Its swiftly-growing and Titanic *water-fronds speedily choked both these rivers.

1220 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxi. 106. The second [kind of floating weed is called] … in English *Water Gillofer.

1221 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cclxxxvi. 679. Water Gilloflower, or Water Violet, is thought to be colde and drie. Ibid., I. xxi. 27. *Water Gladiole groweth in standing pooles, motes, and water ditches.

1222 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., 270. Butomus. Flowering Rush, or *Water Gladiolus.

1223 1847.  Leichhardt, Jrnl., xii. 387. Long hollows surrounded with drooping tea-trees and the white *water-gums.

1224 1898.  Morris, Austral English, 181. Various other trees not of the genus Eucalyptus are also sometimes popularly called Gums, such as … Broad leaved Water Gum, Tristania suaveolens, Smith; Water Gum, Callistemon lanceolatus, De C.; Tristania laurina, T. neriifolia, R. Br.

1225 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 36/1. Byllerne, *watyr herbe, berula.

1226 1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, p. x. Nymphæaceæ … Water-herbs; flowers showy.

1227 1844.  Zoologist, II. 499. Then speedily appeared a crop of *water-herbage.

1228 1864.  Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Isl., 788. *Water-hyssop, Herpestis Monnieria.

1229 1785.  Martyn, Lett. Bot., xxvii. (1794), 426. Another sort, called *Water Lemon in the West Indies, has an agreeable acid flavor in the pulp of the fruit.

1230 1864.  Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Isl., 788. Water-lemon. Passiflora laurifolia and maliformis.

1231 1866.  Treas. Bot., 897/1. Pistia Stratiotes.… Its common West Indian name, *Water Lettuce.

1232 1883.  J. A. Henshall, in Century Mag., July, 383/1. The boatman rows the boat slowly and quietly along the edges of the saw-grass, water-lettuce, bonnets, or other aquatic plants which border the fresh-water streams and lakes of Florida.

1233 1817.  W. Darby, Geogr. Descr. Louisiana, 354. Gleditsia monosperma. *Water locust.

1234 1822.  J. Flint, Lett. Amer., 131. Dr. Drake … has stated the usual time of the flowering of the *water-maple at a month later.

1235 1822.  J. Woods, Two Years’ Resid. Illinois, 93. Beech the prevailing timber, except on the banks of the river; there mostly sycamore, water-maple, and willows.

1236 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 319. *Moss, Water, Fontinalis.

1237 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist., Earth, xvii. I. 287. The vast increase of water-moss, which flourishes upon marshy grounds.

1238 1849.  Balfour, Man. Bot., § 1129. Hydrodictyon utriculatum, *Water-net, has the appearance of a green net.

1239 1904.  Nature, 25 Aug., 396/2. This is likely to be an exaggerated Chinese account of the now well-known water-net (Hydrodictyon utriculatum Roth.).

1240 1617.  Moryson, Itin., III. 83. When the cloth is taken away, they have set before them … *waternuts (which I did see onely in Saxony) and a loafe of bread cut into shives.

1241 1665.  Lovell, Herball (ed. 2), 404. Water nut, see Saligot.

1242 1819.  D. B. Warden, Acc. United States, II. 538. *Water oats, or wild rice (Zizania aquatica) grows in the soft marshes of the eastern parts [of Louisiana].

1243 1889.  P. H. Emerson, Engl. Idyls, 160. The water-soldier (Stratiotes aloides), called *water-orchids in parts of England.

1244 1895.  Rider Haggard, Heart of World, xxiii. (1899), 312. We beached our boat behind the shelter of some dwarf *water-palms three furlongs below the village.

1245 1768.  Pennant, Brit. Zool., II. 344. The bittern … builds its nest with the leaves of *water plants on some dry clump among the reeds.

1246 1882.  Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 693. What was said … on the changes which take place in the air contained in the cavities of water-plants, applies in general also to that of land-plants.

1247 1808.  Jamieson, *Water-purpie.

1248 1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xviii. Cresses or water-purpie, and a bit ait cake, can serve the Master for breakfast as weel as Caleb. Ibid. (1827), Chron. Canongate, v. I propose also to have … a sort of green-grocer’s stall erected in front of my ironmongery wares, garlanding the rusty memorials of ancient times, with cresses, cabbages, leeks, and water purpy.

1249 1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. App., *Water radish, the name by which several species of Sisymbrium are sometimes called.

1250 1866.  Treas. Bot., 955/1. Water Radish. Nasturtium amphibium.

1251 1867.  H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., vii. (1870), 147. The common *water ranunculus, whose white flowers cover the surface of many of our quiet rivulets in June.

1252 1825.  Scott, Talism., xiii. ‘By my crown of lilies, and my sceptre of a specially good *water-reed,’ said Nectabanus, ‘your Majesty is mistaken.’

1253 1871.  Rossetti, Poems, Staff & Scrip, vii. Like water-reeds the poise Of her soft body, dainty thin.

1254 1548.  Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 56. Nymphea … is called in english *water Roses, & some wyth the Potecaries cal it nenufar.

1255 1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXVI. x. II. 256. Of Water-rose, otherwise called Nenuphar.

1256 1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxix. 94. The eggs … are inserted in the stem of a *water-rash (Scirpus) or other aquatic plant.

1257 1841.  Penny Cycl., XX. 359/2. Salix aquatica, *water sallow…. This is also a British species.

1258 1846.  Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 412. Cabombaceæ, *Watershields.

1259 1849.  Balfour, Man. Bot., § 749. Cabombaceæ, the Watershield Family.

1260 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.). Reede gode to many maner vse & amonge *water shrobbes reede is beste.

1261 1784.  J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 117. Water-wort, Water hemlock, or *Water-skeleton, is esteemed a fatal poison to Horses.

1262 1874.  A. Gray, Man. Bot. (ed. 5), 416. Polygonum acre … (*Water Smartweed).

1263 1777.  Jacob, Catal. Plants, 120. Veronica scutellata, Narrow leaved *Water Speedwell, or Brooklime.

1264 1806.  J. Galpine, Brit. Bot., § 9. Veronica anagallis, Water Speedwell.

1265 1858.  A. Irvine, Handbk. Brit. Plants, 49. The earliest Water-speedwell is the Common Brooklime (V[eronica] Beccabunga).

1266 1818.  T. Nuttall, Genera N. Amer. Pl., I. 3. Callitriche … *Water-star.

1267 1854.  Thoreau, Walden, ix. (1886), 178. A lily, yellow or white … and perhaps a *water-target or two.

1268 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, IV. liii. 513. Typha palustris,… *Water Torche.

1269 1707.  Mortimer, Husb., 144. in Hampshire they sell *Water-Trefoil as dear as Hops, and say that it doth upon all accounts as well.

1270 1789.  W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 391. The water-trefoil is likewise of great use in this complaint [rheumatism].

1271 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cclxxxvi. 678. *Water Violet hath long and great iagged leaues, verie finely cut or rent like Yarrowe, but smaller.

1272 1728.  Bradley, Dict. Bot., s.v. Violet, Water-Violets, in Latin, viola aquatica.

1273 1785.  Martyn, Lett. Bot., xvi. (1794), 177. Water Violet has a salver-shaped corolla not fringed.

1274 1866.  Treas. Bot., 1218/2. Water Violet, Hottonia palustris. Ibid., 1229/1. *Water-withe.

1275 1855.  H. G. Dalton, Hist. Brit. Guiana, II. 206. Water vine, or *water withy.

1276 1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. cclxxxvi. 678. Water Milfoile, or *water Yarrow.

1277   32.  Med. Designating specific ailments, eruptions, etc., as † water-bladder, -blister, † -farcin, -garget, -marrain, † -pang; water-blebs, pemphigus; water-brash, pyrosis; water-canker, a form of stomatitis; water-pox, chicken-pox; water-stroke (see quots.); † water-wheel, a watery blister.

1278 1587.  Mascall, Bk. Cattell, III. (1596), 243. Some sheepe will haue a *water bladder vnder their chin,… shepeheards haue no other common remedy but to lance it alitle, and then to tar it.

1279 1818–20.  E. Thompson, Cullen’s Nosol. Meth. (ed. 3), 328. Pompholyx; *Water Blebs.

1280 1822–7.  Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 617. Water-blebs.

1281 1895.  Kipling, 2nd Jungle Bk., Red Dog, 201. Here would be a heaving mound, like a *water-blister in a whirlpool.

1282 1900.  J. Hutchinson, Archives Surg., XI. 259. Vesications (‘water-blisters’ was the patient’s term) broke out.

1283 1802.  Reece, Med. Guide (1820), 405. This disease [*Water-brash] is very prevalent in Scotland and Ireland, but rarely occurs in England.

1284 1822–7.  Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 165. In the colloquial tongue of England, it is called black-water; in that of Scotland, water-brash, and water-qualm.

1285 1597.  P. Lowe, Disc. Chyrurg., V. xxxiii. (1634), 200. Those Pustules and Ulcers which oftentimes possesse the upper part of the mouth and gums, are named by the Greekes Apthe,… in vulgar the *Water Canker.

1286 1877.  F. T. Roberts, Handbk. Med. (ed. 3), I. 291. Water Canker is a very rare, but dangerous form of stomatitis.

1287 1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Dropsy, The Ascites, or *Water-Dropsy of the Abdomen, is … what we particularly call the Dropsy.

1288 1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Farcin or *Water-Farcin, a Swelling under a Horse’s Belly and Chaps, caus’d by his Feeding in Low Watery Grounds.

1289 1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 41. A disease called *‘water garget’ has been slightly prevalent in Merrimack County.

1290 1708.  Kersey, *Water-Murrain, a Disease in black Cattel.

1291 1633.  Ford, ’Tis Pity, III. iii. Am I at these yeeres ignorant, what the meaning’s of Quames, and *Waterpangs be?

1292 1822–7.  Good, Study Med. (1829), III. 61. *Water-pox. Ibid., II. 409. In the language of … Dr. Golis wasserschlag, or *water-stroke, from its violence.

1293 1899.  Syd. Soc. Lex., Water stroke, a term for Meningitis, whether primary or secondary, when the effusion of fluid forms very rapidly.

1294 1530.  Palsgr., 287/1. *Water whele in ones hande, bubette.

1295   † 33.  Prefixed to certain designations of measures of capacity, to denote the larger measures used for goods sold on board ship (see WATER-MEASURE), as water bushel, firlot, peck; also water met = WATER-MEASURE. A related use seems to exist in water-fother (quot. 1300), but the sense is obscure.

1296 1300.  Memoranda K. R. 27 & 28 Edw. I., m. 32 b. Recognouerunt … se teneri Waltero de Langetone … in lxx. carratis plumbi videlicet Waterfother.

1297 15[?].  Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869), I. 14. The watter mett of Leyth sett to Jhone Dow for ij merks.

1298 1546.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 30. That na ry be sauld dearer nor xxv s. the boll, and the quhete for xl s. the boll watter mete.

1299 1551.  Burgh Rec. Edin., II. 155. The prouest baillies and counsale ordanis that Jhone Dalmahoy thair seriand and officer of the port and heavin of Leyth in all tymes cuming keip the mesouris callit the watter metts of salt, rye, quheitt and beir and siclyke.

1300 1555.  Sc. Acts Mary (1814), II. 496/2. Except the watter met to remane according to the vse of the cuntrie.

1301 1615.  E. S., Britain’s Buss, in Arber, Eng. Garner, III. 632. A Water Bushel (that is, five pecks) of Spanish salt, will salt a barrel of herrings.

1302 1630.  Aldeburgh Rec., in N. & Q., 12th Ser. VIII. 427/1. Paid for Iron worke for 4 water busshells … 00 16 00.

1303 1655.  in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878), III. 402. The water firlot for bear and oattis.

1304 1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Jan., 102. Potatoes … from 1s. 2d. to 1s. 4d. per water peck, which is a measure of about fourteen Scots pints.

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