water glassn.
/ˈwɔːtə ɡlɑːs/, /ˈwɔːtə ɡlas/, U.S. /ˈwɔdər ˌɡlæs/, /ˈwɑdər ˌɡlæs/ 1. † b. A glass bowl or tumbler for rinsing the mouth or fingers after a meal. Obsolete.
a. A glass vessel used to store or collect water. In later use: spec. a type of vase used for growing or displaying flowering bulbs in water. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > [noun] > glass or crystal vessel
glass?c1225
crystal glass1567
water glass1590
crystal1630
vitrum1657
flint-glass1675
sheet glass1805
1590 in Ipswich Probate Inventories 1583–1631 (1981) 40 30 ould water glasses 0 3 4.
1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures xviii. 101 These old water glasses of the church, that for want of sale, had stoode so long on their shelues, as they grew fusty, and naught.
1611 Rates Marchandizes sig. E2 Glasses called water glasses, the dozen..xviii s.
1628 M. Petway Bk. of Acct. in L. C. Orlin Elizabethan Househ. (1995) (modernized text) 57 Item paid the same day for water glasses and preserving glasses 00.02.03.
1764 W. Harte Ess. Husbandry ii. 70 I have known an hyacinth or iris, placed in a water-glass for blowing flowers, shoot forth such a quantity of roots, fibres, and filaments, that they seemed to form a sort of peruke or bush of hair.
1789 J. Abercrombie Universal Gardener’s Kalendar 89 To those in the water-glasses, change the water once in ten or twelve days.
1824 J. C. Loudon Green-house Compan. i. 10 Wherever a few plants in pots, or bulbs in water-glasses, are kept in a room, the same objection may be raised.
1849 Florist 46 A Hyacinth removed from the water-glass should have its roots nicely arranged in good sandy soil.
1906 Amer. Motherhood Oct. 317/1 None of the other bulbs do well grown in water glasses.
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the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > finger-bowl
water glass1766
finger glass1789
gemellion1889
finger bowl1895
1766 T. Smollett Trav. France & Italy I. v. 66 I know no custom more beastly than that of using water-glasses, in which polite company spirt, and squirt, and spue the filthy scourings of their gums, under the eyes of each other.
1776 R. Twiss Tour Ireland 37 The filthy custom of using water glasses after meals is as common as in England..no well-bred persons touch their victuals with their fingers, and consequently such ablutions ought to be unnecessary.
1784 W. Cowper Let. 5 Apr. (1981) II. 233 Your Mother..begs you will buy for her Eight Blue, deep Blue Water glasses.
c. A glass, esp. a tumbler, used for drinking water.
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the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > glass
glassc888
verrea1382
Venice glass1527
rummer1625
bottle glass1626
Malaga glassa1627
flute1649
flute-glass1668
long glass1680
mum-glass1684
toasting glass1703
wine glass1709
tulip-glass1755
tun-glass1755
water glass1779
tumbler-glass1795
Madeira glass1801
tumbling glass1803
noggin glass1805
champagne glass1815
table glass1815
balloon glass1819
copita1841
firing glass1842
nobbler1842
thimble glass1843
wine1848
liqueur-glass1850
straw-stem1853
pokal1854
goblet1856
mousseline1862
pony glass1862
long-sleever1872
cocktail glass1873
champagne flute1882
yard-glass1882
sleever1896
tea-glass1898
liqueur1907
dock-glass1911
toast-master glass1916
Waterford1916
stem-glass1922
Pilsner glass1923
Amen glass1924
ballon1930
balloon goblet1931
thistle glass1935
snifter1937
balloon1951
shot-glass1955
handle1956
tulip1961
schooner1967
champagne fountain1973
1779 in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 *305 A common tumbler or water-glass.
1807 R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. xiv. 161 A compact kind of chest holds the bason, the soap, the tooth brush, and water glass.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond III. v. 150 ‘Is the Queen dead?’ cries out Bolingbroke, seizing on a water-glass.
1966 G. Parks Choice of Weapons x. 89 I knew that Gleason kept a death watch on unfilled water glasses, so I went about filling them to the brim.
2011 Independent 1 June 13/1 Heavily cut crystal wine and water glasses.
2. poetic. The surface of water used as, or likened to, a mirror. Now rare.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > mirror > [noun] > water surface as mirror
water glass1591
1591 A. Fraunce Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch i. ii. sig. C4 With a stealing eye to the waterglasse she repayred, Spying whether I spyde.
1610 J. Davies Panegyricke in R. Vaughan Water-workes sig. B2v Such is this Water-glasse, wherein these Times Do see how to adorne their Meades in Greene.
a1676 Duke of Newcastle Phanseys (1956) 4 Those Speties, cousinnge, glidinge passe Like 'Sissus in his water Glasse.
1901 R. W. Buchanan Compl. Poet. Wks. II. 429 Doth he see her [sc. the moon] pass Over the glimmering water-glass?
3. A water clock, a clepsydra. Now historical.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > [noun] > water-clock
water dial1546
water clock1601
water glass1633
clepsydra1646
hour water-ball1663
hydroscope1728
1633 W. Forster tr. W. Oughtred Addition Circles Proportion ii. 16 Some have sought to observe the Longitude..by Sand-glasses, or Waterglasses: but both oblivious to the diverse alterations and temperatures of the aire and climate wherein they are.
a1660 T. Powell Humane Industry (1661) 4 The Nasican Scipio was the first that brought the use of Water-glasses amongst them, and distinguished the hours of day and night.
1737 W. Oldys Brit. Librarian i. 43 The strange alphabetical Globe of our Countryman Linne,..which in a Water-glass would turn to an Index every Hour.
1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Suppl. Chron. 147/1 Machinery of this kind was previously unknown in Siam, time being generally measured by water-glasses.
1851 G. Grote Hist. Greece (ed. 2) VIII. ii. lxvii. 513 With full notice to defendants and full time of defence measured by the water-glass.
1992 New Scientist 18 Apr. 43/2 (caption) Timekeeper: 17th-century Italian water-glass.
2001 E. H. Oakes Encycl. World Scientists 172/2 Herophilus was the first to measure the pulse, which he computed by using a clepsydra, or water glass.
4. An instrument for making observations beneath the surface of water, consisting of a container or tube with a transparent bottom; = water telescope n. at water n. Compounds 7.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instrument for distant vision > [noun] > water glass
water telescope1782
water glass1804
sponge-glass1885
sea-glass1895
1804 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1962) II. 1994 An exquisite purple upon part of the Sea such as I have often seen [in] the glass of waterglasses.
1826 J. Purdy New Sailing Direct. Mediterranean Sea ix. 163 There are rocky patches, which may be readily seen with a water-glass.
1848 C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 75 The fishermen say, that they can..descry, with the help of their water-glasses, pieces of cannon lying at the bottom.
1942 National Geographic Mag. June 730/1 The boat was anchored a few yards from shore, and the sea floor..was scanned with a waterglass.
2012 C. C. Palmer It's my Life ii. 71 As I looked into the water glass, I saw numerous lobsters.
5. An aqueous solution of sodium silicate, a colourless glassy substance which solidifies when exposed to the air and is used for pickling eggs, and numerous industrial purposes. Also: (more fully potassium waterglass) an aqueous solution of potassium silicate used similarly.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > painting or coating materials > [noun] > other specific coating materials
lorica1753
water glass1835
novargent1856
white stuff1874
release agent1938
1835 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 18 270 For example, Water-glass, the Tartarus boraxatus, &c. and several substances already mentioned.
1859 Ecclesiologist 20 283 Water-glass seems likely to offer a substitute for enamel.
1888 W. T. Brannt Pract. Treat. Manuf. Soap & Candles i. xvi. 451 Prepared potassium water-glass and potash filling are manufactured by Messrs. van Baërle & Sponnagel, of Berlin.
1920 L. Kahlenberg Outl. Chem. (rev. ed.) xxi. 370 A glassy, deliquescent mass is obtained, which dissolves in water, yielding a thick sirupy solution popularly called potassium water glass.
1956 Particle Boards, their Manuf. & Uses (Nat. Res. Council U.S.) 17 Quite a bit of waterglass is used for making large quantities of packing case plywood, and it is a pretty good glue so long as it stays dry.
2004 tr. A. Reichel et al. Plaster, Render, Paint & Coatings 47/3 Silicate plasters contain potassium water glass as a binder.
2011 Telegram & Gaz. (Worcester, Mass.) 10 Nov. a9/3 My mother would put any excess eggs into a container of water glass (sodium silicate). They would be preserved until they were fished out in the winter.
6. A clear cylindrical tube in which the water level shows the level of water inside a boiler on a locomotive.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > for measuring level in a container > esp. in boilers
gauge1799
water gauge1844
gauge-glass1849
water glass1895
1895 Brotherhood Locomotive Engineers Jrnl. July 795/2 Is the water glass safe to run by if the water line in the glass is not moving up and down when the engine is in motion?
1996 Special Investig. Rep.: Steam Locomotive Firebox Explosion on Gettysburg Railroad (Nat. Transportation Safety Board, U.S.) 21/1 As long as the water glass shows a water level, the crownsheet is covered by at leat 3 inches of water.
Compounds
General attributive in sense 5.
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1859 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 24 June 536/2 The water-glass cement employed for this plate was made of pulverized dolomite.
1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 295/1 The water-glass paint..is liable to be washed away when exposed to rain.
1905 W. H. Hunt Pre-Raphaelitism II. 332 Silica or water-glass painting was substituted for Maclise's ‘Waterloo’..the two water-glass paintings.
2001 Condor 103 182/2 Real eggs (preserved in water glass solution and rinsed) may have been bereft of natural odor.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1590