Water course Wa"ter course` 1. A stream of water; a river or brook. Isa. xliv. 4. 2. A natural channel for water; also, a canal for the conveyance of water, especially in draining lands. 3. (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 . Angell. Burrill.
Water craft Wa"ter craft` Any vessel or boat plying on water; vessels and boats, collectively.
Water crake Wa"ter crake` (Zoology) (a) The dipper. (b) The spotted crake ( Porzana maruetta ). See Illust. of Crake . (c) The swamp hen, or crake, of Australia.
Water crane Wa"ter crane` A goose-neck apparatus for supplying water from an elevated tank, as to the tender of a locomotive.
Water cress Wa"ter cress` (Botany) A perennial cruciferous herb ( Nasturtium officinale ) growing usually in clear running or spring water. The leaves are pungent, and used for salad and as an antiscorbutic.
Water crow Wa"ter crow` [ So called in allusion to its dark plumage.] (Zoology) (a) The dipper. (b) The European coot.
Water crowfoot Wa"ter crow"foot` (Botany) An aquatic kind of buttercup ( Ranunculus aquatilis ), used as food for cattle in parts of England.
Great water crowfoot , an American water plant ( Ranunculus multifidus ), having deep yellow flowers.
Water cure Wa"ter cure` 1. (Medicine) Hydropathy. 2. A hydropathic institution.
Water deck Wa"ter deck` A covering of painting canvas for the equipments of a dragoon's horse. Wilhelm.
Water deer Wa"ter deer` (Zoology) (a) A small Chinese deer ( Hydropotes inermis ). Both sexes are destitute of antlers, but the male has large, descending canine tusks. (b) The water chevrotain.
Water deerlet Wa"ter deer"let See Water chevrotain .
Water devil Wa"ter dev"il (Zoology) The rapacious larva of a large water beetle ( Hydrophilus piceus ), and of other similar species. See Illust. of Water beetle.
Water dock Wa"ter dock` (Botany) A tall, coarse dock growing in wet places. The American water dock is Rumex orbiculatus , the European is R. Hydrolapathum .
Water doctor Wa"ter doc"tor (Medicine) (a) One who professes to be able to divine diseases by inspection of the urine. (b) A physician who treats diseases with water; an hydropathist.
Water dog Wa"ter dog` 1. (Zoology) A dog accustomed to the water, or trained to retrieve waterfowl. Retrievers, waters spaniels, and Newfoundland dogs are so trained. 2. (Zoology) The menobranchus. 3. A small floating cloud, supposed to indicate rain. 4. A sailor, esp. an old sailor; an old salt. [ Colloq.]
Water drain Wa"ter drain` A drain or channel for draining off water.
Water drainage Wa"ter drain"age (?; 48). The draining off of water.
Water dressing Wa"ter dress"ing (Medicine) The treatment of wounds or ulcers by the application of water; also, a dressing saturated with water only, for application to a wound or an ulcer.
Water dropwort Wa"ter drop"wort` (Botany) A European poisonous umbelliferous plant ( Enanthe fistulosa ) with large hollow stems and finely divided leaves.
Water eagle Wa"ter ea"gle (Zoology) The osprey.
Water elder Wa"ter el"der (Botany) The guelder- rose.
Water elephant Wa"ter el"e·phant (Zoology) The hippopotamus. [ R.]
Water engine Wa"ter en"gine An engine to raise water; or an engine moved by water; also, an engine or machine for extinguishing fires; a fire engine.
Water feather, Water feather-foil Wa"ter feath"er, Wa"ter feath"er-foil` (Botany) The water violet ( Hottonia palustris ); also, the less showy American plant H. inflata .
Water flag Wa"ter flag` (Botany) A European species of Iris ( Iris Pseudacorus ) having bright yellow flowers.
Water flannel Wa"ter flan"nel (Botany) A floating mass formed in pools by the entangled filaments of a European fresh-water alga ( Cladophora crispata ).
Water flea Wa"ter flea` (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of small aquatic Entomostraca belonging to the genera Cyclops , Daphnia , etc; -- so called because they swim with sudden leaps, or starts.
Water flounder Wa"ter floun"der (Zoology) The windowpane ( Pleuronectes maculatus ). [ Local, U. S.]
Water fox Wa"ter fox` (Zoology) The carp; -- so called on account of its cunning. Walton.
Water frame Wa"ter frame` A name given to the first power spinning machine, because driven by water power.
Water furrow Wa"ter fur"row (Agriculture) A deep furrow for conducting water from the ground, and keeping the surface soil dry.
Water gage Wa"ter gage` See Water gauge .
Water gall Wa"ter gall` 1. A cavity made in the earth by a torrent of water; a washout. 2. A watery appearance in the sky, accompanying the rainbow; a secondary or broken rainbow. These water galls , in her dim element,
Foretell new storms to those already spent.
Shak. False good news are [ is] always produced by true good, like the water gall by the rainbow.
Walpole.
Water gang Wa"ter gang` (O. E. Law) A passage for water, such as was usually made in a sea wall, to drain water out of marshes. Burrill.
Water gas Wa"ter gas` (Chemistry) See under Gas .
Water gate Wa"ter gate` A gate, or valve, by which a flow of water is permitted, prevented, or regulated.
Water gauge Wa"ter gauge` [ Written also water gage .] 1. A wall or bank to hold water back. Craig. 2. An instrument for measuring or ascertaining the depth or quantity of water, or for indicating the height of its surface, as in the boiler of a steam engine. See Gauge .
Water gavel Wa"ter gav"el (O. Eng. Law) A gavel or rent paid for a privilege, as of fishing, in some river or water.
Water germander Wa"ter ger·man"der (Botany) A labiate plant ( Teucrium Scordium ) found in marshy places in Europe.
Water gilding Wa"ter gild"ing The act, or the process, of gilding metallic surfaces by covering them with a thin coating of amalgam of gold, and then volatilizing the mercury by heat; -- called also wash gilding .
Water glass Wa"ter glass` (Chemistry) See Soluble glass , under Glass .
Water glass Water glass 1. A clepsydra. 2. An instrument consisting of an open box or tube with a glass bottom, used for examining objects in the water, as upon the sea bottom in shallow places. 3. A water gauge for a steam boiler.
Water god Wa"ter god` (Myth.) A fabulous deity supposed to dwell in, and preside over, some body of water.
Water grass Water grass (a) A tall march perennial grass ( Paspalum dilatatum ) of the southern United States and the American tropics. (b) Manna grass. (c) The grass Chloris elegans . (d) [ Dial. Eng.] (1) Velvet grass. (2) The water cress. (3) One of various horsetails.
Water gruel Wa"ter gru"el A liquid food composed of water and a small portion of meal, or other farinaceous substance, boiled and seasoned.
Water hammer Wa"ter ham"mer (Physics) 1. A vessel partly filled with water, exhausted of air, and hermetically sealed. When reversed or shaken, the water being unimpeded by air, strikes the sides in solid mass with a sound like that of a hammer. 2. A concussion, or blow, made by water in striking, as against the sides of a pipe or vessel containing it.
Water hammer Water hammer A metal hammer used when heated, as by dipping in hot water, to blister the skin, as for counterritation.
Water hare Wa"ter hare (Zoology) A small American hare or rabbit ( Lepus aquaticus ) found on or near the southern coasts of the United States; -- called also water rabbit , and swamp hare .
Water hemlock Wa"ter hem"lock (Bot) (a) A poisonous umbelliferous plant ( Cicuta virosa ) of Europe; also, any one of several plants of that genus. (b) A poisonous plant ( Œnanthe crocata ) resembling the above.
Water hemp Wa"ter hemp` (Botany) See under Hemp .
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