English
water
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈwɔːtə/, enPR: wôˈ -tə
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA: /ˈwoːtə/, [wo̞ːtʰə], [wo̞ːʔə]
  • (America) IPA: /ˈwɔtəɹ/, [ˈwɔɾɚ], enPR: wôtər
  • (cot-caught) IPA: /ˈwɑtəɹ/, [ˈwɑɾɚ], enPR: wätər
  • (Estuary English) IPA: [ˈwoːʔɐ], [ˈwoːʔə]
  • (Cockney) IPA: [ˈwoʊʔə], [ˈwɔoɾɐ]
  • (Northern England, dated; obsolete elsewhere) IPA: /ˈwætə/, [ˈwatə], [ˈwaɾɚ]
  • (Scotland) IPA: /ˈwɔtər/, [ˈwɔtər]
  • (dialectal) IPA: /ˈwɒtə/, /ˈwɒtəɹ/
  • (New York City) IPA: [ˈwɔəɾə], [ˈwɔəɾɚ]
  • (Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA: /ˈwʊtəɹ/, [ˈwʊɾɚ], enPR: wo͝otər
  • (Western Pennsylvania) IPA: /ˈwɔɹtəɹ/, [ˈwɔɹɾɚ], enPR: wôrtər
  • (Australia, New Zealand) IPA: /ˈwoːtə/, [ˈwoːɾə]
  • (Ireland) IPA: /ˈwɔːtəɹ/, [ˈwɒːθ̠ɚ], [wɔːʔəɹ]
  • (India) IPA: [ˈwɔʈə(r)], [ˈʋɔʈə(r)]
  • (Tamil English) IPA: [ˈʋaːʈər(ɯ)], [ˈwaːʈər(ɯ)]
  • (SAE) IPA: [ˈwoːtə]
  • (SG, Malaysia) IPA: /ˈwɔtə/
Etymology 1

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

Cognate with cf, Northern Frisian weeter, Saterland Frisian Woater, Western Frisian wetter, Dutch water, Low German Water, German Wasser, Old Norse vatn (Swedish vatten, Danish vand, Norwegian Bokmål vann, Norwegian Nynorsk - and Icelandic vatn, Old Irish coin fodorne, Latin unda, Lithuanian vanduõ, Russian вода́, Albanian ujë, Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, Armenian գետ, Sanskrit उदन्, Hittite 𒉿𒀀𒋻.

Noun

water

  1. (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.
    1. (uncountable, in particular) The liquid form of this substance: liquid H2O.
      May I have a glass of water?
      Your plants need more water.
    2. (countable) A serving of liquid water.
  2. (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.
  3. (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, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190311070055/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/south-korea-proposes-rain-project-with-china-to-cut-pollution/4819207.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)
      The president expressed hope that creating rain over waters between the countries would help reduce pollution.
    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.
  4. (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.
  5. 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.]
    5. Amniotic fluid or the amniotic sac containing it.
      Synonyms: 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)
    6. (colloquial, medicine) Fluids in the body, especially when causing swelling.
      He suffers from water on the knee.
  6. (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?
  7. (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.
  8. (colloquial, figuratively) A person's intuition.
    Synonyms: bones
    I know he'll succeed. I feel it in my waters.
  9. (uncountable, dated, finance) Excess valuation of securities.
  10. 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.
Synonyms Translations

see water/translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wateren, from Old English wæterian, from Proto-Germanic *watrōną, *watrijaną, from Proto-Germanic *watōr, from Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥.

Cognate with Scots watter, Saterland Frisian woaterje, Western Frisian wetterje, Dutch wateren, nds-de watern, German wässern, Danish vande, Swedish vattna, Icelandic vatna.

Verb

water (waters, present participle watering; simple past and past participle watered)

  1. (transitive) To pour water into the soil surrounding (plants).
  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 October 31, 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.
  3. (transitive) To provide (animals) with water for drinking.
    I need to water the cattle.
  4. (intransitive) To get or take in water.
    The ship put into port to water.
  5. (transitive, colloquial) To urinate onto.
    Nature called, so I stepped into the woods and watered a tree.
  6. (transitive) To dilute.
    Can you water the whisky, please?
  7. (transitive, dated, finance) To overvalue (securities), especially through deceptive accounting.
  8. (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.
  9. (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
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “dilute”): refine
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations

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