Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter W - Page 10

Water battery () A battery nearly on a level with the water.

Water bear () Any species of Tardigrada, 2. See Illust. of Tardigrada.

Water-bearer (n.) The constellation Aquarius.

Water bed () A kind of mattress made of, or covered with, waterproof fabric and filled with water. It is used in hospitals for bedridden patients.

Water beech () The American hornbeam. See Hornbeam.

Water beetle () Any one of numerous species of aquatic beetles belonging to Dytiscus and allied genera of the family Dytiscidae, and to various genera of the family Hydrophilidae. These beetles swim with great agility, the fringed hind legs acting together like oars.

Water bellows () Same as Tromp.

Water bird () Any aquatic bird; a water fowl.

Water blackbird () The European water ousel, or dipper.

Waterboard (n.) A board set up to windward in a boat, to keep out water.

Water boatman () A boat bug.

Waterbok (n.) A water buck.

Water-bound (a.) Prevented by a flood from proceeding.

Water brain () A disease of sheep; gid.

Water brash () See under Brash.

Water breather () Any arthropod that breathes by means of gills.

Water bridge () See Water table.

Water buck () A large, heavy antelope (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) native of Central Africa. It frequents the banks of rivers and is a good swimmer. It has a white ring around the rump. Called also photomok, water antelope, and waterbok.

Water buffalo () The European buffalo.

Water bug () The Croton bug.

Water bug () Any one of numerous species of large, rapacious, aquatic, hemipterous insects belonging to Belostoma, Benacus, Zaitha, and other genera of the family Belostomatidae. Their hind legs are long and fringed, and act like oars. Some of these insects are of great size, being among the largest existing Hemiptera. Many of them come out of the water and fly about at night.

Water butt () A large, open-headed cask, set up on end, to contain water.

Water caltrop () The water chestnut.

Water can () Any one of several species of Nuphar; the yellow frog lily; -- so called from the shape of the seed vessel. See Nuphar, and cf. Candock.

Water canker () See Canker, n., 1.

Water carriage () Transportation or conveyance by water; means of transporting by water.

Water carriage () A vessel or boat.

Water cart () A cart carrying water; esp., one carrying water for sale, or for sprinkling streets, gardens, etc.

Water cavy () The capybara.

Water celery () A very acrid herb (Ranunculus sceleratus) growing in ditches and wet places; -- called also cursed crowfoot.

Water cell () A cell containing water; specifically (Zool.), one of the cells or chambers in which water is stored up in the stomach of a camel.

Water cement () Hydraulic cement.

Water chestnut () The fruit of Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis, Old World water plants bearing edible nutlike fruits armed with several hard and sharp points; also, the plant itself; -- called also water caltrop.

Water chevrotain () A large West African chevrotain (Hyaemoschus aquaticus). It has a larger body and shorter legs than the other allied species. Called also water deerlet.

Water chicken () The common American gallinule.

Water chickweed () A small annual plant (Montia fontana) growing in wet places in southern regions.

Water chinquapin () The American lotus, and its edible seeds, which somewhat resemble chinquapins. Cf. Yoncopin.

Water clock () An instrument or machine serving to measure time by the fall, or flow, of a certain quantity of water; a clepsydra.

Water-closet (n.) A privy; especially, a privy furnished with a contrivance for introducing a stream of water to cleanse it.

Water cock () A large gallinule (Gallicrex cristatus) native of Australia, India, and the East Indies. In the breeding season the male is black and has a fleshy red caruncle, or horn, on the top of its head. Called also kora.

Water color () A color ground with water and gum or other glutinous medium; a color the vehicle of which is water; -- so called in distinction from oil color.

Water color () A picture painted with such colors.

Water-colorist (n.) One who paints in water colors.

Water course () A stream of water; a river or brook.

Water course () A natural channel for water; also, a canal for the conveyance of water, especially in draining lands.

Water course () 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.

Water craft () Any vessel or boat plying on water; vessels and boats, collectively.

Water crake () The dipper.

Water crake () The spotted crake (Porzana maruetta). See Illust. of Crake.

Water crake () The swamp hen, or crake, of Australia.

Water crane () A goose-neck apparatus for supplying water from an elevated tank, as to the tender of a locomotive.

Water cress () 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 () The dipper.

Water crow () The European coot.

Water crowfoot () An aquatic kind of buttercup (Ranunculus aquatilis), used as food for cattle in parts of England.

Water cure () Hydropathy.

Water cure () A hydropathic institution.

Water deck () A covering of painting canvas for the equipments of a dragoon's horse.

Water deer () A small Chinese deer (Hydropotes inermis). Both sexes are destitute of antlers, but the male has large, descending canine tusks.

Water deer () The water chevrotain.

Water deerlet () See Water chevrotain.

Water devil () The rapacious larva of a large water beetle (Hydrophilus piceus), and of other similar species. See Illust. of Water beetle.

Water dock () A tall, coarse dock growing in wet places. The American water dock is Rumex orbiculatus, the European is R. Hydrolapathum.

Water doctor () One who professes to be able to divine diseases by inspection of the urine.

Water doctor () A physician who treats diseases with water; an hydropathist.

Water dog () A dog accustomed to the water, or trained to retrieve waterfowl. Retrievers, waters spaniels, and Newfoundland dogs are so trained.

Water dog () The menobranchus.

Water dog () A small floating cloud, supposed to indicate rain.

Water dog () A sailor, esp. an old sailor; an old salt.

Water drain () A drain or channel for draining off water.

Water drainage () The draining off of water.

Water dressing () 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 () A European poisonous umbelliferous plant (Enanthe fistulosa) with large hollow stems and finely divided leaves.

Water eagle () The osprey.

Water elder () The guelder-rose.

Water elephant () The hippopotamus.

Water engine () An engine to raise water; or an engine moved by water; also, an engine or machine for extinguishing fires; a fire engine.

Waterer (n.) One who, or that which, waters.

Waterfall (n.) A fall, or perpendicular descent, of the water of a river or stream, or a descent nearly perpendicular; a cascade; a cataract.

Waterfall (n.) An arrangement of a woman's back hair over a cushion or frame in some resemblance to a waterfall.

Waterfall (n.) A certain kind of neck scarf.

Water feather () Alt. of Water feather-foil

Water feather-foil () The water violet (Hottonia palustris); also, the less showy American plant H. inflata.

Water flag () A European species of Iris (Iris Pseudacorus) having bright yellow flowers.

Water flannel () A floating mass formed in pools by the entangled filaments of a European fresh-water alga (Cladophora crispata).

Water flea () 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.

Waterflood (n.) A flood of water; an inundation.

Water flounder () The windowpane (Pleuronectes maculatus).

Waterfowl (n.) Any bird that frequents the water, or lives about rivers, lakes, etc., or on or near the sea; an aquatic fowl; -- used also collectively.

Water fox () The carp; -- so called on account of its cunning.

Water frame () A name given to the first power spinning machine, because driven by water power.

Water furrow () A deep furrow for conducting water from the ground, and keeping the surface soil dry.

Water-furrow (v. t.) To make water furrows in.

Water gage () See Water gauge.

Water gall () A cavity made in the earth by a torrent of water; a washout.

Water gall () A watery appearance in the sky, accompanying the rainbow; a secondary or broken rainbow.

Water gang () A passage for water, such as was usually made in a sea wall, to drain water out of marshes.

Water gas () See under Gas.

Water gate () A gate, or valve, by which a flow of water is permitted, prevented, or regulated.

Water gauge () A wall or bank to hold water back.

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