water
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɔː.tə/
ipa: [wo̞ː.tʰə]
enpr: wôˈ -tə
ipa: /wʊʔə/
ipa: /-ɑ/
ipa: /ˈwɔ.təɹ/
ipa: [ˈwɔ.ɾɚ]
enpr: wô.tər
ipa: /ˈwɑ.təɹ/
ipa: [ˈwɑ.ɾɚ]
enpr: wätər
ipa: /ˈwoː.tə/
ipa: [ˈwoː.ɾə]
rhymes: -ɔːtə(ɹ)
ipa: [ˈwoː.ʔɐ]
ipa: [ˈwoː.ʔə]
ipa: [ˈwoʊ.ʔə]
ipa: [ˈwɔo.ɾɐ]
note: Northern England, dated; obsolete elsewhere
ipa: /ˈwæ.tə/
note: Northern England, dated; obsolete elsewhere
other: [ˈwa.tə]
note: Northern England, dated; obsolete elsewhere
other: [ˈwa.ɾɚ]
ipa: /ˈwɔ.tər/
other: [ˈwɔ.tər]
ipa: /ˈwɒ.tə/
ipa: /ˈwɒ.təɹ/
ipa: [ˈwɔə.ɾə]
ipa: [ˈwɔə.ɾɚ]
note: Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: /ˈwʊ.təɹ/
note: Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: [ˈwʊ.ɾɚ]
enpr: wo͝otər
note: Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: /ˈwɔɹ.təɹ/
ipa: [ˈwɔɹ.ɾɚ]
enpr: wôrtər
ipa: /ˈwɔː.təɹ/
ipa: [ˈwɒː.θ̠ɚ]
ipa: [ˈwɔːʔəɹ]
ipa: [ˈwɔ.ʈə(r)]
ipa: [ˈʋɔ.ʈə(r)]
note: Tanglish
ipa: [ˈʋaː.ʈər(ɯ)]
note: Tanglish
ipa: [ˈwaː.ʈər(ɯ)]
ipa: /ˈwoː.tə/
ipa: [ˈwɔː.tə]
ipa: /ˈwɔ.tə/
ipa: /ˈwɐː.t̪əɹ/
other: /ɔː/
other: /weɪtə(r)/
Forms: form: waters
form: watering
form: watered
form: watered
Etymology: From Middle English wateren, from Old English wæterian, from Proto-Germanic *watrōną, *watrijaną, from Proto-Germanic *watōr (“water”), from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ (“water”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots watter (“water”), Saterland Frisian woaterje (“to water”), West Frisian wetterje (“to water”), Dutch wateren (“to water”), German Low German watern (“to water”), German wässern (“to water”), Danish vande (“to water”), Swedish vattna (“to water”), Icelandic vatna (“to water”).
Senses: examples: text: Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.
ref: 1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 24, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
glosses: To pour water into the soil surrounding (plants).
examples: text: tears watering the ground
ref: 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:
text: Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands.
ref: 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I:
glosses: To wet or supply with water; to moisten; to overflow with water; to irrigate.
examples: text: I need to water the cattle.
text: While they watered and washed their horses, I talked with a red-capped man, some kind of chief.
ref: 2008, Oisin Curran, Mopus, page 34:
glosses: To provide (animals) with water for drinking.
examples: text: The ship put into port to water.
text: 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.
ref: 1944 January and February, W. McGowan Gradon, “Forres as a Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 23:
glosses: To get or take in water.
examples: text: Nature called, so I stepped into the woods and watered a tree.
synonyms: see Thesaurus:urinate
glosses: To urinate onto.
examples: text: Can you water the whisky, please?
synonyms: water down
antonyms: refine
glosses: To dilute.
examples: text: such agencies would make it possible for the railroads to water stock and evade the law subjecting security issues to public regulation
ref: 1930 April 10, “Calls Rail Holding Companies Threat”, in The Sun:
topics: business
finance
glosses: To overvalue (securities), especially through deceptive accounting.
examples: text: Chopping onions makes my eyes water.
text: The smell of fried onions makes my mouth water.
glosses: To fill with or secrete water or similar liquid.
examples: text: to water silk
glosses: To wet and calender, as cloth, so as to impart to it a lustrous appearance in wavy lines; to diversify with wavelike lines.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: bewater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: dewater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: feed and water
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: overwater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: overwatered
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: poop water
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: rewater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: rewatered
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: underwater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: underwatered
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: unwater
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: unwaterable
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: unwatered
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: waterable
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: water down
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watered down
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: waterer
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watering
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watering can
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watering hole
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watering place
sense: Terms derived from the verb water
word: watering pot