water

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• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtə/, [wo̞ːtʰə], enPR: wôˈ -tə

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

  • Audio (UK):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtəɹ/, [ˈwɔɾɚ], enPR: wôtər

  • Audio (US, without the cot–caught merger):

    (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑtəɹ/, [ˈwɑɾɚ], enPR: wätər

  • Audio (US, cot–caught merger):

    (file)

• (General South African) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtə/
• Rhymes: -ɔːtə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: wa‧ter

The development of the /ɔː/ vowel instead of expected */weɪtə(r)/ is irregular and has not been conclusively explained (compare the irregular broadening of a in father).

From Middle English water, from Old English wæter (“water”), from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr (“water”), from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ (“water”).

water (countable and uncountable, plural waters)

2. (uncountable) A substance (of molecular formula H₂O) found at room temperature and pressure as a clear liquid; it is present naturally as rain, and found in rivers, lakes and seas; its solid form is ice and its gaseous form is steam.

   By the action of electricity, the water was resolved into its two parts, oxygen and hydrogen.

   • 1805 December, Julius Griffiths, “A Journey across the Desert”, in The Monthly Mirror, page 362:

     It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

   1. (uncountable, in particular) The liquid form of this substance: liquid H₂O.

      May I have a glass of water?

      Your plants need more water.

      • 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1, pages 284–5:

        Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.

      • 2002, Arthur T. Hubbard, Encyclopedia of Surface and Colloid Science, →ISBN, page 4895:

        A water drop placed on the surface of ice can either spread or form a lens depending on the properties of the three phases involved in wetting, i.e., on the properties of the ice, water, and gas phases.

      • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80:

        Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:water.
   2. (countable) A serving of liquid water.
      • 2006, Lori Foster, Erin McCarthy, Amy Garvey, Bad Boys of Summer, →ISBN, page 91:

        Joe bustled back and offered her a glass of wine but she shook her head. “Just a water, please.”

3. (alchemy, philosophy) The aforementioned liquid, considered one of the Classical elements or basic elements of alchemy.

   He showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God.

4. (uncountable or in the plural) Water in a body; an area of open water.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 138, column 2:

     Roſa. O vain peticioner, beg a greater matter,
     Thou now requeſts but Mooneſhine in the water.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     The president expressed hope that creating rain over waters between the countries would help reduce pollution.

     Audio (US):

     (file)

   And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

   The boat was found within the territorial waters.

   These seals are a common sight in the coastal waters of Chile.

5. (poetic, archaic or dialectal) A body of water, almost always a river, sometimes a lake or reservoir, especially in the names given to such bodies.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts viij:[36], folio clxvi, recto:

     And as they went on their waye
     they cam vnto a certayne water
     and the gelded man ſayde: Se here is water
     what ſhall lett me to be baptiſed?

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Morte d’Arthur”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 4:

     On one side lay the Ocean, and on one
     Lay a great water, and the moon was full.

   • 1865, William Allingham, editor, The Ballad Book: a selection of the choicest British ballads, William and May Margaret, or the Water of Clyde:

     But ere he came to Clyde's water, fu' loud the wind did blaw.

6. A combination of water and other substance(s).
   1. (sometimes countable) Mineral water.

      Perrier is the most popular water in this restaurant.

   2. (countable, often in the plural) Spa water.

      Many people visit Bath to take the waters.

   3. (pharmacy) A solution in water of a gaseous or readily volatile substance.

      ammonia water

   4. Urine. [from 15th c.]
      • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 458:

        Ser Dunaver's squire Jodge could not hold his water when he slept.

   6. Amniotic fluid or the amniotic sac containing it. (Used only in the plural in the UK but often also in the singular in North America.)

      Synonym: bag of waters

      Before the child is born, the pregnant woman’s water breaks. (North America)

      Before your child is born, your water(s) will break. (North America)

      Before the child is born, the pregnant woman’s waters break. (UK)

   7. (colloquial, medicine) Fluids in the body, especially when causing swelling.

      He suffers from water on the knee.

7. (business, often attributive) The water supply, as a service or utility.

   Coordinate terms: electricity, internet, phone, power, sewer

   The city threatened to cut off our water after we went only a month without paying our bill.

   Did you leave the water running again?

8. (figuratively, in the plural or in the singular) A state of affairs; conditions; usually with an adjective indicating an adverse condition.

   The rough waters of change will bring about the calm after the storm.

9. (colloquial, figuratively) A person's intuition.

   Synonym: bones

   I know he'll succeed. I feel it in my waters.

10. (uncountable, dated, finance) Excess valuation of securities.
    • 1902 August 2, “Too Much Water to Suit Cummins”, in The Atlanta Constitution:

      Iowa Governor Will Fight Rock Island Reorganization. He Says That Under the New Plan Too Much Water Is Put Into the Stock—Believes Plan Is Out of Harmony with Iowa Laws.

    • 1920 April 11, “Says Stock 'Water' Didn't Affect Fare”, in New York Times:

      the outstanding stock and bond obligations of the company were reduced from $34,000,000 to $24,000,000 by squeezing out the water.

11. A particular quality or appearance suggestive of water:
    1. The limpidity and lustre of a precious stone, especially a diamond.

       a diamond of the first water is perfectly pure and transparent

       • 1928, Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

         And when she raised it to see what caused this agitation, she saw nothing—nothing but the vast solitary emerald which Queen Elizabeth had given her. And was that not enough? she asked. It was of the finest water.

    2. A wavy, lustrous pattern or decoration such as is imparted to linen, silk, metals, etc.

• wahter, wahtuh (eye dialect)

• See also Thesaurus:water
• See also Thesaurus:urine

• (chemical having the formula H₂O): chemical, substance
• (liquid H₂O): liquid, fluid
• (basic elements): element
• (urine): body fluid, bodily fluid, biofluid

• (chemical having the formula H₂O): heavy water; ice, steam, water vapor/water vapour
• (liquid H₂O): drinkwater, freshwater, meltwater, mineral water; hard water, soft water

• (chemical having the formula H₂O): hydrogen, oxygen

• (liquid H₂O): ice, steam, water vapor/water vapour
• (basic elements): earth, air/wind, fire; wood, metal; void/ether

From Middle English wateren, from Old English wæterian, from Proto-Germanic *watrōną, *watrijaną, from Proto-Germanic *watōr (“water”), from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ (“water”).

water (third-person singular simple present waters, present participle watering, simple past and past participle watered)

1. (transitive) To pour water into the soil surrounding (plants).
   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 24, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

     Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.

2. (transitive) To wet or supply with water; to moisten; to overflow with water; to irrigate.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     tears watering the ground

   • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I:

     Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands.

4. (transitive) To provide (animals) with water for drinking.

   I need to water the cattle.

   • 2008, Oisin Curran, Mopus, page 34:

     While they watered and washed their horses, I talked with a red-capped man, some kind of chief.

5. (intransitive) To get or take in water.

   The ship put into port to water.

   • 1944 January and February, W. McGowan Gradon, “Forres as a Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 23:

     After working the 1.30 p.m. through train from Forres to Aberdeen as far as Elgin, she returns tender first with a local passenger train and is then coaled and watered at Forres shed, and eventually works back to Perth on the 10.20 p.m. through freight.

6. (transitive, colloquial) To urinate onto.

   Nature called, so I stepped into the woods and watered a tree.

7. (transitive) To dilute.

   Can you water the whisky, please?

8. (transitive, dated, finance) To overvalue (securities), especially through deceptive accounting.
   • 1930 April 10, “Calls Rail Holding Companies Threat”, in The Sun:

     such agencies would make it possible for the railroads to water stock and evade the law subjecting security issues to public regulation

9. (intransitive) To fill with or secrete water or similar liquid.

   Chopping onions makes my eyes water.

   The smell of fried onions makes my mouth water.

10. (transitive) To wet and calender, as cloth, so as to impart to it a lustrous appearance in wavy lines; to diversify with wavelike lines.

    to water silk

• (urinate): (see the list of synonyms in the entry "urinate")
• (dilute): water down

• (antonym(s) of “dilute”): refine

• “water”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “water”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Ewart, tawer

From Dutch water, from Middle Dutch wāter, from Old Dutch watar, from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr, from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaːtər/

• Audio:

  (file)

water (plural waters)

1. water
2. any artificial fluid similar to water
3. (colloquial) urine
4. any body of water, such as a river or a lake
5. a disease where water is accumulated; hydrops
6. (in the plural) a large quantity of water; inundation

water (present water, present participle waterende, past participle gewater)

1. to urinate
2. to secrete liquid

• waterbok
• waterlemoen
• ontwater

• Jan Kromhout, Afrikaans-English, English-Afrikaans Dictionary (2001)

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋaːtər/, (Belgium) [β̞aːtər], (Netherlands) [ʋaːtər]

• Audio (Netherlands):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːtər
• Hyphenation: wa‧ter

From Middle Dutch wāter, from Old Dutch watar, from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr, from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥.

water n (plural waters or wateren, diminutive watertje n)

1. water (H₂O)

   Het water kookte.

   The water boiled.

2. body of water (such as a lake, ditch or stream)
3. bodily fluid (especially amniotic fluid)

• Afrikaans: water
• Javindo: water
• Negerhollands: watu, water, water, waeter
• Petjo: watter
• Skepi Creole Dutch: water
• →? Sranan Tongo: watra
  • → Aukan: wataa
  • → Saramaccan: wáta

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

water

1. inflection of wateren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• “water” in Van Dale Onlinewoordenboek, Van Dale Lexicografie, 2007.

• tarwe

• wotter, woater, waoter

From Old Saxon watar.

water

1. (Drents, Twents) water

• Water

Ellipsis of water-closet, borrowed from English water closet.

• IPA^(key): /wa.tɛʁ/

water m (plural waters)

1. toilet, bathroom

• toilettes
• toilette (Belgium)
• waters
• WC

• waters

• “water”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Pseudo-anglicism, a clipping of English water closet.

• IPA^(key): /ˈva.ter/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ater

water m (invariable)

1. toilet bowl
2. (colloquial) water closet, toilet

• Waater (Eupen, Krefeld)

From Middle Dutch wāter, from Old Dutch watar, from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr, from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥.

water n

1. water
2. body of water

• móndjwater

• Stefaan Top, Limburgs sagenboek (2004), page 45

From Old Dutch watar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːtər/

wāter n

1. water

• Dutch: water
  • Afrikaans: water
  • Javindo: water
  • Negerhollands: watu, water, water, waeter
  • Petjo: watter
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: water
  • →? Sranan Tongo: watra
    • → Aukan: wataa
    • → Saramaccan: wáta
• Limburgish: water
• West Flemish: woater

• “water”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “water”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

• watere, watir, waterre

From Old English wæter, from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwatər/, /ˈwaːtər/

water (plural wateres)

1. water (liquid H₂O)
   • c. 1190, Layamon, Brut, MS. Cotton Caligula A ix edition:

     al ſwa great ſwa a beam:
     þe he leide in ane walle ſtream.
     Þe ilke makeð þat water hot:
     & þan folc halwende.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. water vapour, condensation
3. lake, pond, ocean, canal, body of water
4. water source, spring, well, fount
5. solution, liquid mixture

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:water.

• waterles

• English: water (see there for further descendants)
• Geordie English: watter, wetter
• Scots: watter
• Yola: waudher, wadher

• “wā̆ter, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.

From Old Saxon watar.

• (originally) IPA^(key): /ˈwaːtər/

wāter n

1. water
   • 1537, Jürgen Richolff the Younger, Datt högeste unde öldeste water recht, section XXVIII:

     Eyn schip effte twe effte meer liggen in einer hauen dar kleyn water is
     vnde plecht dröge tho synde
     also dat dat eyne schip hart by dem andern tho liggende kumpt […]

     A ship or two or more lie in a port with little water, which tends to be dry, so that one the ship comes to lie close by the other […]

• German Low German: Water

Shortened form of English water closet.

water m

1. (colloquial) water closet, toilet, rest room

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɑ.ter/

water n

1. Alternative form of wæter