Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid, H2O, essential for most plant and animal life and the most widely used of all solvents. Freezing point 0°C (32°F); boiling point 100°C (212°F); specific gravity (4°C) 1.0000; weight per gallon (15°C) 8.338 pounds (3.782 kilograms).
  • noun Any of various forms of water.
  • noun Naturally occurring mineral water, as at a spa.
  • noun A body of water such as a sea, lake, river, or stream.
  • noun A particular stretch of sea or ocean, especially that of a state or country.
  • noun A supply of water.
  • noun A water supply system.
  • noun Any of the fluids normally secreted from the body, such as urine, perspiration, tears, or saliva.
  • noun A fluid present in a body part in abnormal quantities as a result of injury or disease.
  • noun The fluid surrounding a fetus in the uterus; amniotic fluid.
  • noun An aqueous solution of a substance, especially a gas.
  • noun A wavy finish or sheen, as of a fabric or metal.
  • noun The valuation of the assets of a business firm beyond their real value.
  • noun Stock issued in excess of paid-in capital.
  • noun The transparency and luster of a gem.
  • noun A level of excellence.
  • intransitive verb To pour or sprinkle water on; make wet.
  • intransitive verb To give drinking water to.
  • intransitive verb To lead (an animal) to drinking water.
  • intransitive verb To dilute or weaken by adding water.
  • intransitive verb To give a sheen to the surface of (fabric or metal).
  • intransitive verb To increase (the number of shares of stock) without increasing the value of the assets represented.
  • intransitive verb To irrigate (land).
  • intransitive verb To produce or discharge fluid, as from the eyes.
  • intransitive verb To salivate in anticipation of food.
  • intransitive verb To take on a supply of water, as a ship.
  • intransitive verb To drink water, as an animal.
  • idiom (above water) Being or holding an asset that is worth more than its purchase price or the debt owed on it.
  • idiom (above water) Making more than enough money to meet financial obligations.
  • idiom (make water) To urinate.
  • idiom (under water) Being or holding an asset that is worth less than its purchase price or the debt owed on it.
  • idiom (under water) Not making enough money to meet financial obligations.
  • idiom (water under the bridge) A past occurrence, especially something unfortunate, that cannot be undone or rectified.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A wavy or marbled effect produced on a textile fabric, as grosgrain silk, by pressure and moisture. See watered.
  • noun A sheen or surface given to metal, by heat and pressure, resembling the ripples or the play of light on water.
  • noun See dead-water.
  • noun Standing water, as contrasted with running or circulating water.
  • noun A transparent, inodorous, tasteless fluid, H2O.
  • noun Specifically— Rain.
  • noun Mineral water. See mineral.
  • noun plural Waves, as of the sea; surges; a flood.
  • noun A limited body of water, as an ocean, a sea, or a lake; often, in provincial English and Scotch use, a river or lake: as, Derwent Water (lake); Gala Water (stream).

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English wæter; see wed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • Just wanted to confirm: Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that bottom of bowl *does not touch the water*.

    Layered Chocolate Cake with Fluffy White Frosting 2008

  • In context 2 and context 3, Oscar's ˜water™-thoughts are about water, i.e. H2O, while in context 1 they are about XYZ.

    Narrow Mental Content Brown, Curtis 2007

  • And at a certain period in the investigation of the underlying nature of water, it would have been correct to say that water might not contain hydrogen, if ˜water™ picked out something different than it actually does.

    The Epistemology of Modality Vaidya, Anand 2007

  • The acceptance of rooftop water harvesting as a suitable system may depend on the users’ views on the water’ s taste.

    Chapter 5 2000

  • Note: These drawings can also be made for different water collection and transport methods (“water options”).

    Chapter 8 2000

  • The discharge of drainage water also affects the quality of the “receiving water” into which it flows, especially when sewage or septic tank effluent is released into the drains.

    1. Surface water drainage in urban areas 1991

  • At all events, very _hot_ drink with nothing but water, milk and sugar, is equally efficacious, and my medicine (a few grains of sugar of milk) put into the hot water, seasoned as above, has often obtained great credit, when the _hot water_ was alone worthy.

    An Epitome of the Homeopathic Healing Art Containing the New Discoveries and Improvements to the Present Time

  • Heat water scalding hot first, then put in your _Hartichoakes_ and scald them, and take away all the bottomes, and leaves about them, then take _Rose water_ and _Sugar_ and boyle them alone a little while, then put the _Hartichoakes_ therein, and let them boyle on a soft fire till they be tender enough, let them be covered all the time they boyle, then take them out and put them up for your use.

    A Book of Fruits and Flowers Anonymous

  • You will notice when you pay a pilgrimage to the stone (it lies at the ford, hard by a church) that the ground about it is almost level with the water, so that when the river is in flood the stone must be almost submerged: in other words, it would then _hove above the water_.

    The Book-Hunter at Home P. B. M. Allan

  • The roast should first be washed in pure water, then wiped dry with a clean dry cloth, placed in a baking pan without any seasoning; some pieces of suet or cold drippings laid under it, but _no water_ should be put into the pan, for this would have a tendency to soften the outside of the meat.

    The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) The Whole Comprising a Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home Mrs. F.L. Gillette

Comments

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  • be like water, allways like water - bruce lee

    December 6, 2006

  • The liquid in that glass is water.

    February 15, 2007

  • Here's a sample.

    April 19, 2007

  • Really, you really felt the need to post a picture of water?

    April 20, 2007

  • It's a nice, peaceful sort of water....

    April 20, 2007

  • In Italy, water means toilet. Presumably water and closet had a falling out over who had the shittier job.

    November 24, 2007

  • A form of intelligence that is never the same after you meet Masaru Emoto.

    March 2, 2008

  • As bear is to woods, so polar bear is to ...

    February 19, 2009

  • Well, better out than in, I always say.

    Of course, that goes for getting out of the water, too, unlike that guy...

    February 20, 2009

  • knowledge, remote, concealing, secret doctrine

    July 24, 2009

  • There is no new water on planet Earth. Everything we drink or produce consumes this water. Anything we consume, produce or use in our lives owes itself to this water, which has been recycled over and over and over and over again, countless times. Think about this next time you flush, wash your car, do your laundry, rinse the dye from your hair, or let the faucet/tap run while you shave and brush your teeth.

    March 5, 2011