watercourse

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A natural or artificial channel through which water flows.
2. n. A stream or river.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A stream of water; a river or brook.
2. n. A channel or canal made for the conveyance of water, or serving for conveyance by water.
3. n. In law, a stream of water, usually flowing in a definite channel having a bed and sides or banks, and usually discharging itself into some other stream or body of water. Bigelow. The condition of being occasionally dry does not deprive it of the character of a watercourse; but occasional flows of water caused by unusual rains, or melting of snow, and following a channel which is usually dry, do not constitute a watercourse. The owner of a watercourse has, within certain limits, a right to have it flow substantially unimpaired by the owners above and below. A grant of a watercourse may mean a grant of the easement or the right to the running of water; the channel which contains the water, the pipe, or drain; or the land over which the water flows. George Jessel, Master of the Rolls.

Wiktionary

1. n. any channel, either natural or artificial, through which water flows

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Shipbuilding) One of the holes in floor or other plates to permit water to flow through.
2. A stream of water; a river or brook.
3. A natural channel for water; also, a canal for the conveyance of water, especially in draining lands.
4. (Law) A running stream of water having a bed and banks; the easement one may have in the flowing of such a stream in its accustomed course. A water course may be sometimes dry.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. natural or artificial channel through which water flows
2. n. a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
3. n. a conduit through which water flows