wateryadj.
/ˈwɔːt(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˈwɔdəri/, /ˈwɑdəri/ I. Relating to, containing, or consisting of water or a similar fluid.
1.
a. Of, relating to, belonging to, or connected with water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective]
wateryeOE
aquatic1490
waterish1565
aquatical1603
aqueous1731
hygric1902
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxvii. 220 Seo [wamb] þe bið wæterigre gecyndo sio hæfð gode girnesse metes.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. xvi. 108 Of þe wittes þe siȝt is most sotil for þe kinde þerof is fury... Þenne moost sotil is þe smellinge, for þe kynde þerof is smoky. And þanne þe taast, for þe kinde þerof is watirry.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xiv. sig. I6v The table was set neere to an excellent water-worke... There were birds also made so finely, that they did not onely deceiue the sight with their figure, but the hearing with their songs; which the watrie instruments did make their gorge deliuer.
1622 J. Taylor Farewell to Tower-bottles A 4 When Vpland Tradesmen thus dares take in hand A wat'ry buis'nesse, they not vnderstand.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis v, in tr. Virgil Wks. 327 Mean time the Trojan cuts his wat'ry way, Fix'd on his Voyage, thro the curling Sea.
1765 O. Goldsmith Traveller (ed. 2) 15 The firm connected bulwark..Spreads its long arms amidst the watry roar.
1859 C. Dickens Haunted House: Mortals in House in All Year Round Extra Christmas No.,13 Dec. 7/2 Mr. Beaver..proved to be an intelligent man, with a world of watery experiences in him.
1881 M. E. Braddon Asphodel I. 210 The Rector's wife heard of her niece's watery meanderings and gipsy breakfasts.
1916 Outing Apr. 100/1 A lusty forty-barrel bull [whale], unhampered by excess of bulk and enjoying the most active period of his watery life.
1980 New York 7 July 114/2 One can watch watery activity like air-sea rescue demonstrations.
2013 West Briton (Nexis) 27 June 8 A Falmouth rower is hoping to complete one of her watery ambitions.
b. Designating a plant or animal which lives in or on the water. Now somewhat rare.Aquatic is now the more usual term.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > aquatic
waterya1382
subaquaneous1656
subaquatic1750
aquatic1794
demersed1866
pelagic1887
hydrophytic1901
hydrarch1913
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in relation to habitat > [adjective]
fieldya1382
waterya1382
agrestial1608
subterranean1638
lucifugous1654
nemoral1656
subcutaneous1664
subterraneous1832
subtidal1852
xylophilous1862
xerophilous1863
acid-loving1870
aerobic1878
aerobian1879
aerobious1879
aerobiotic1880
subaquatic1880
aerophilous1885
facultative1887
pelagic1887
aerophile1888
autotrophic1893
heterotrophic1893
plastic1893
thermophilic1894
thermophil1896
mesophilic1897
halolimnic1898
polybathic1898
tolerant1898
limnetic1899
thermophilous1899
metatrophic1900
mixotrophic1900
paratrophic1900
mesophilous1901
benthic1902
epibenthic1902
eurybathic1902
microaerophilic1903
sympatric1904
benthoal1905
cryophile1907
benthonic1909
microaerophile1909
lenitic1916
lotic1916
psychrotolerant1924
oligosaprobic1925
polysaprobic1925
aerophilic1929
saprobic1932
primary1934
lentic1935
chemoautotrophic1936
eurytopic1937
psammic1938
saprotrophic1942
prototrophic1946
chemolithoautotrophic1949
auxotrophic1950
chemolithotrophic1953
chemoorganotrophic1953
opportunist1956
psychrophile1956
psychrophilic1958
opportunistic1960
psychrotrophic1960
oligosaprobe1990
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Wisd. xix. 18 Feeldi wijlde thingis in to watri [L. in aquatica] ben turned.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xiii. xxvi. 675 Fische lickeþ þe erþe and watery herbes and so geteþ hem mete and norisshinge.
1555 L. Digges Prognostication Right Good Effect sig. B.iiv Some haue obserued euil weather to folow, whan watry fowles leaue the sea, desiring lande.
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 10 Earthie and waterie creatures.
1601 R. Dolman tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. iii. lxii. 286 God hath created them [sc. fish] like watrie birdes, to whom he hath giuen wings agreeable to the element for to sustaine themselues with.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 491 Alders, beside other waterie shrubs.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §656 The Reed or Cane is a Watry Plant, and groweth not but in the Water.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 65 The sev'ral sorts of watry Fowls, That swim the Seas, or haunt the standing Pools. View more context for this quotation
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. v. 64 Wat'ry fowl, that seek their fishy food.
1844 L. S. Costello Mem. Eminent Englishwomen II. 82 Cataracts..above whose murmurs recline sculptured forms, supported by dolphins and other watery creatures.
1894 A. Razzak Native Officer's Diary 22 Afterwards a garden in which all kinds of fruits were, and two lakes dwelt in with all kinds of watery birds.
1907 Country Life 31 Aug. 301/1 Shrimps, prawns and crawfish wriggle and dart away,..all sorts of watery creatures..strive to secure some safer refuge.
2014 Cambr. Evening News (Nexis) 22 May Grab a net and see what watery creatures and skaters you can scoop up.
c. Designating a celestial object, sign of the zodiac, date, etc., which is thought to herald or bring rain, or which is associated with water as an element (cf. water sign at water n. Compounds 7).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [adjective]
waterya1398
wet-weather1858
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. 461 Wattry [signes; L. aquea] beþ Cancer, Piscis, Scorpio, in þe norþ.
c1440 Astron. Cal. (Ashm. 391) ii. f. 4 Þis signe is stedfaste septentrional..flewmatik and watri in kinde.
a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 86 Whenne þe mone ys yn þe watery tokenynges.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxxiiiv The sayd writers declared that this yere should be such Eclipses in watery signes, and suche coniunctions that by waters & fluddes many people should perishe.
1567 G. Turberville tr. G. B. Spagnoli Eglogs viii. f. 76 The watrie Moone that shewes hir face by night.
1592 tr. Axiochus sig. C To behold the order of the windes, the seauen watrie starres, of winter, of summer, of stormes.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III ii. ii. 69 That I being gouernd by the watry moane, May send foorth plenteous teares to drowne the world. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 1 Nine Changes of the Watry-Starre. View more context for this quotation
1647 W. Lilly Christian Astrol. i. xvi. 97 ♏ [= Scorpio] Is a cold, watry, nocturnal, flegmatick, feminine Signe.
1705 J. Addison tr. Claudian in Remarks Italy 442 The Mourning Sisters weep in watry Signs.
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. II. 341 The constellation of the Hyades..was a watry sign.
1818 J. Taylor Antiquitates Curiosæ Index Swithin St., the watery saint.
1867 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 244/1 In France, the watery saints' days are those of St Médard (8th June), and St Gervais and St Protais (19th June).
1992 L. Greene & H. Sasportas Luminaries 49 The Moon is a watery planet, and in the watery signs it reflects the most archetypal level of its nature.
2011 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 1 May 27 The recent Japanese tsunami..happened as the planet of chaos, Uranus, left the watery sign of Pisces, after a seven-year-stay.
d. Designating a god, supernatural being, etc., associated with water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > fairy or elf > [adjective] > inhabiting water
watery1449
undine1869
undinal1891
J. Metham Amoryus & Cleopes (1916) l. 287 (MED) Jouys, fyry; Juno, aery; Neptunus, wattry; Pluto, erthy.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xi. f. 139 At his going thence, In honour of the watry Goddes he burned frankincence.
1595 W. S. Lamentable Trag. Locrine v. iv. 17 The watrie ladies and the lightfoote fawnes, And all the rabble of the wooddie Nymphs.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 63 Whose rockie shoare beates backe the enuious siege Of watry Neptune. View more context for this quotation
1617 J. Taylor Three Weekes Obseruations Ep. Ded. sig. A 4v Neptune, Æolus, Tellus, Bacchus, and all the watery, windy, earthly, and drinking Deities.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 50 The wat'ry Virgins for thy Bed shall strive. View more context for this quotation
1748 T. Gray Ode Death Favourite Cat vi, in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems II. 269 She mew'd to ev'ry watry God.
1803 A. Boswell Spirit of Tintoc To Rdr. These seem to have had perfect effect on the watery spirit Kelpy, but none on the ethereal demons of Tintoc.
1888 Jrnl. Gypsy Lore Soc. Oct. 112 A survival of the worship of water and the watery powers, once common throughout Europe.
1912 Drama Nov. 118 Ariel attires himself as a watery nymph to go invisible.
1945 A. E. Popham Drawings Leonardo da Vinci viii. 73 In the background monstrous waves, on the crests of which ride the watery gods, are about to finish the destruction.
2007 N.Y. Sun (Nexis) 30 Apr. 15 Telemann's suite ‘Hamburger Ebb und Fluth’..contains 10 sections depicting the escapades and attributes of the various watery gods.
2.
a. Of soil or ground: full of water; moist, damp; well-watered; (sometimes) marshy, boggy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > ground > [adjective] > wet
weta900
wateryOE
irrigate?a1412
waterish1540
irriguate1632
irriguous1651
springish1663
spewy1669
puddleda1721
swashy1796
puddly1843
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > moist or well-watered
wateryOE
well-watereda1475
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxv. 234 Rixe weaxst gewunelice on wæterigum stowum.
OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 84 Alluuius ager, wæterig æcer.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xxxi. 12 Þe soule of hem shal ben as a watri gardyn.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 518 Watry, or fulle of water, aquosus, aquilentus. Watry, or fulle of moysture, humidus.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 250 Þis is a good moyst & a wattery ground for to haue in oure welle be-nethyn.
a1500 (a1450) tr. Secreta Secret. (Ashm. 396) (1977) 62 Bestes of that nature [MS natures], wele fed and yonge, brought forth in watery and moist shadowed pasture, ben best.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 20 The watrie ground requireth more store of doung, and the drye ground the lesse.
c1602 C. Marlowe tr. Ovid Elegies i. xiv. sig. B5v In hilly Idas watry plaines.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ix. 175 Rushes that grow in the water, or watry places. View more context for this quotation
1680 Exact Jrnl. Siege Tangier 11 The third [trench] being very deep and watry,..a Hundred and twenty four were there killed.
1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain xxv. 465 In every little watry bottom the frogs croaked out a concert.
1823 Augusta (Georgia) Chron. 24 May To draw a parallel between the watery soil of Guiane and that of St. Domingo.
1846 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs (new ed.) 129 Blackthorns stiff the fields divide With watery ditch on either side.
1943 Triumphs of Engin. 5/1 Watery lands are being turned into fertile soil on which valuable crops are ever-increasingly being raised.
1954 Rotarian Dec. 13/1 In Bangkok, where the elevation above sea level is but six feet, it is impossible to build any sort of underground room in the watery soil!
2014 New Hamburg (Ont.) Independent (Nexis) 15 Apr. The ground in the park is heavily saturated with snow melt and the watery soil likely weakened the roots.
b. Of a cloud: full of moisture which is ready to fall as rain; (of the sky) characterized by such clouds, overcast, threatening rain. Also of the weather, season, etc.: rainy, wet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wet weather > [adjective] > wet (of weather, place, or time)
wetc893
moista1398
waterya1398
moistya1500
waterish1545
washy1566
rotten1567
slabby1653
weety1658
late1673
fresh1790
slottery1790
soft1812
givey1829
juicy1837
sploshy1838
sposhy1842
slip-sloppya1845
splishy-splashyc1850
shabby1853
soppy1872
sappy1885
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > [adjective] > holding moisture in vapour form
waterya1398
wetc1540
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ix. xx. 534 Decembre is a wattry [L. pluuiosus] moneþ.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xviii. l. 410 (MED) Is no weder warmer þan after watery cloudes.
c1500 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1912) 128 295 (MED) Wynter shal be with much rayne..somer and harvest shal be watrye.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde ii. ix. f. 84v Vapours..wherof the watery cloudes are engendred.
1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (1681) 291 At the rising of the Sun, if it appear..hid in a black watry Cloud, Rain follows.
1743 P. Francis tr. Horace Epodes x. 19 While watry Winds the bellowing Ocean shake.
1793 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 98 (table) Watery sky, heavy showers.
1825 Relig. Intelligencer (New-Haven, Conn.) 26 Nov. 401/2 The clouds hung low and looked watery.
1849 Amer. Whig Rev. Jan. 25/1 The country..looked as if the sun never shone on it, as it lay under the gray and watery sky.
1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxiii. 261 The watery year of 1879.
a1907 A. I. Shand Memories of Gardens (1908) i. 49 I shall never forget the sufferings of that watery winter.
1921 S. Gordon Wanderings of Naturalist xxii. 100 Only a light air from the south-east ruffled the waters, but the sky was heavy with watery clouds.
2006 South Wales Evening Post (Nexis) 1 Dec. 19 The current watery weather began on Wednesday, November 8, and has hardly let up since.
c. Of a part of the body, pathological lesion or condition, etc.: containing, consisting of, or exuding watery fluid, esp. serous fluid; characterized by the presence of such fluid. Now rare.watery head, watery itch, watery mouth: see Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > skin > textures or states of skin > [adjective] > wet or clammy
waterya1400
clammyc1425
puggya1800
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > discharge or flux > [adjective] > characterized by
waterya1400
wet1566
humid1813
moist1876
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 359 (MED) The x co is of watri dropesies.
c1425 tr. J. Arderne Treat. Fistula (Sloane 6) (1910) 50 Þe watry placeȝ I enoynted with ane oyntement made of blak sape, and poudre of sulphur.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 75 (MED) Of apostemes..some ben sanguine, some colrik..some watry and wyndy.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxv If the skynne be ruddy colour and drie, thanne is he sounde: and if he be pale coloured & watry, than he is rotten.
1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health ii. f. 64 The water druncke with Sugar..recouereth an olde & watrie rupture.
1605 J. Mosan tr. C. Wirsung Gen. Pract. Physick ii. i. 187 When these Tumors haue bin opened by incision,..sometimes there is found nothing in them but water, therfore is the same called a watery Bronchocele.
1668 W. Rowland tr. J. Feyens New Treat. Spirits & Wind 46 The Ascites or watry Dropsie is from more cold, the Tympany from less.
1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 34 A large hydatical or watery Tumor.
1796 J. Hunter Compl. Dict. Farriery & Horsemanship Pains, or Watery Sores, on the legs and pasterns of horses, are frequently occasioned by a sharp serous matter oozing through the pores, causing the hair to fall off.
1801 Ann. Med. 2nd Lustrum 1 345 The child had rubbed it so much, that the cuticle of the inoculated part was entirely abraded; which had the appearance of a raw, watery sore, pretty much inflamed.
1834 Home Bk. Health & Med. 396/2 A tumor pressing on the vessels of a limb, causes a watery swelling of that limb.
1890 Retrospect Med. 102 172 The brain was watery, the veins turgid.
1908 F. T. Barton Terriers xxiii. 149 The old, and by far the most satisfactory of dealing with this serous (watery) abscess [in the ear-flap], is to make a free cut into it.
2013 S. B. White Primary Lessons xx. 128 Soon tiny blisters turn into a watery rash that covers my fingers, hands, and inner wrists.
d. More generally: covered or soaked with, permeated by, or full of water; wet, dripping. rare before 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > [adjective]
wetc900
moisty1386
nesha1387
dank?a1400
watery?a1439
sappy?a1500
dankish1540
spongy1600
sluiced1607
madid1615
humidious1630
uvid1656
madent1727
muggy1731
sockya1825
suckeny1878
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. l. 2272 He thouhte..that it dede hym good To haue aboute hym..Boistous bocheris, al bespreynt with blood, And watry fissheris [Fr. poissonniers] abood euer in his siht.
?1528 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Bk. Distyllacyon (new ed.) cclviii. sig. R.vi The rede erthe snayles whiche be founde on the watery wayes whan it rayneth.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. B2 The Mermaides..sate..drying their waterie tresses in the Sunne beames.
1823 J. Brown Hist. Gallery Criminal Portraitures I. 596 He..stripped off his faded, tattered, and watery garments.
1839 R. M. Bird Peter Pilgrim (new ed.) I. i. 31 The feeble ray of light..disclosed a formidable labyrinth of rocks and stalagmites covering the watery floor.
1902 E. W. Hornung At Large xxiii. 252 [He] splashed indignantly out into the darkness, and along the watery road to the shooting-box.
1950 Life 26 June 74/2 (advt.) No watery sponge. No greasy fingertips. No spilly powder.
1997 N.Y. Times 7 Sept. v. 9/1 Boatloads of the chalky mineral were ferried out of this watery cavern.
2014 S. J. Knowles Leaving Essenwood xxiii. 83 She was incredibly beautiful with her watery hair cascading down her body.
e. Situated or built in or alongside a body of water; (of a town or city) pervaded by waterways.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > covered or permeated by water
watery1567
1567 H. G. tr. G. Boccaccio Pleasaunt Disport Diuers Noble Personages iv. f. 18v He serched the watrie [It. bagnate] bankes of Rodanus, of Senna at Parys, of the great Po.
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. L3v And now this pale Swan in her watrie nest, Begins the sad Dirge of her certaine ending. View more context for this quotation
a1668 W. Davenant Poems (1672) 320 The Lark now leaves his watry Nest.
1794 W. Blake Introd. in Songs of Experience in Compl. Poetry & Prose (1982) 18 The starry floor, The watry shore.
1878 J. Miller Songs Italy 13 Sweet Was the Christmas time in the watery town.
1914 E. V. Lucas Wanderer in Venice xviii. 189 Francesco Guardi was born in Venice in 1712..and all his life he was translating the sparkling charm of his watery city into paint.
1997 Vegetarian Times July 112/1 For hundreds of years, this crowded, watery city [sc. Amsterdam] has been known as a tolerant refuge for dissidents.
3. † d. Chiefly poetic. Designating a rainbow. Obsolete.
a. Having water as a constituent, formed of water; of the nature of water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > like or of nature of water
waterya1398
waterisha1500
ayguous?1541
aqueous1646
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. iv. 1272 He seiþ þat white colour is ygendred of ayre in þe whiche is som watry moisture.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) f. 161 They wepte watry droppes with their eyes, bycause they dye.
1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions i. ii. sig. B.v That whiche was mixed with waterie moisture, [is said] to haue rested in the place, for the heauinesse therof, and of the watery partes, the sea to haue comen.
1604 King James VI & I Counterblaste to Tobacco sig. B2 Raynes, Snowes, Deawes, hoare Frostes, and such like waterie Meteors.
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 3 My grief hath need of all the watry things, That nature hath produc'd.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. iii. 76 The Clouds are attracted out of moist and watry, and also earthy Vapours.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados i. 20 The Resistance..will compel these thin watry Vesicles to coalesce..into Drops.
1787 G. Winter New Syst. Husbandry 73 Heat..resolves the watry and oily particles of the earth into vapour.
1844 T. J. Graham Mod. Domest. Med. (ed. 9) 174 Whey is the watery saccharine part of milk, freed in a great measure from the butyraceous and caseous matters.
1876 J. S. Bristowe Treat. Theory & Pract. Med. ii. v. 765 The watery constituent [of urine].
1877 T. H. Huxley Physiography 67 The watery vapour in the atmosphere.
1906 Trans. Amer. Climatol. Assoc. 22 292 The exponent of this relation is chiefly in the watery component of the respective excretions [of the kidneys and the skin].
2013 Independent on Sat. (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 24 Aug. 10 It takes about 24 hours for the watery part of the blood, the plasma, to be replaced.
b. Consisting of water; spec. (in early use chiefly literary and rhetorical) designating a body of water or a watercourse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > consisting of or containing water
floatyc1400
watery?a1439
waterish1510
phlegmy1599
liquid1609
aquose1738
society > travel > travel by water > [noun] > a voyage
farec1000
voyagec1310
ship-roada1400
shipping1483
race1513
navigationa1527
sailing1535
sea-fare1601
sea-voyage1612
saila1616
perfretation1656
watery1697
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > across water
watery1715
waterway1865
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vi. l. 45 (MED) Hir habit was of manyfold colours..Hir gold allaied like sonne in wattri shours Meynt with liht greene. [No corresponding sentence in the French original.]
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxvii. 20 He smote the stony rocke, that the watery streames gusshed out.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme xlvi. 6 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 40 Yea soe lett Seas withall, In watry hills arise, As maie the earthlie hills appall.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 210 When Phœbe doth beholde Her siluer visage, in the watry glasse. View more context for this quotation
?1606 M. Drayton Eglog v, in Poemes sig. E 6 Conuey her prayse to Neptunes watry realme.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 779 Those few escap't Famin and anguish will at last consume Wandring that watrie Desert. View more context for this quotation
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 358 That the Gods or Stars,..were at first made out of the Ocean, that is, out of the Watry Chaos.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 90 Keels of Ships, that scour the watry Plains. View more context for this quotation
1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 685 In fourscore Barks they plow the watry Way.
1785 Monthly Rev. 71 App. 546 Boats of the least size..would support the direction of balloon-sails..and skim over the watery surface under their attraction with the greatest velocity.
1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. v. 107 England was mistress of the sea, and she respected no rights of private property upon her watery domain.
1863 S. Baring-Gould Iceland 189 A quaint peep of the landscape is obtained through a watery arch, spouted from a hollow.
1908 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Fair Mississippian xiii. 300 Desmond..looked out keenly at every shifting change of the watery expanse.
1980 Rotarian July 19/1 This ancient watery thoroughfare [sc. the Baltic Sea] has led..to innumerable ruthless wars.
2013 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 1 June 49 The kayak climbed the face of the wave, reaching for the sky at an impossible angle before breaking through the green, watery wall.
c. In various fixed phrases denoting the water, or the bottom of a body of water, as the final resting place of a dead person, esp. one who had drowned, as watery grave, watery tomb, etc. Similarly in phrases denoting drowning, as watery death, watery fate, etc. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [noun] > place of > of the drowned
watery grave1595
watery tomb1595
Davy Jones's (or Davy's) locker1803
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > other means of disposal > [noun] > grave at bottom of sea or water
watery grave1595
watery tomb1595
Davy Jones's (or Davy's) locker1803
the world > life > death > manner of death > [noun] > death from drowning
drenchingc1380
drowning1539
shipwreck1680
watery death1831
drownage1850
1595 G. Markham Most Honorable Trag. Sir R. Grinuile sig. E3v He dips His damned bodie in his watrie tombe.
1606 Most Cruell & Bloody Murther Committed by Annis Dell sig. B2 Hauing forc't the child to be sad (beholding first of her brothers vntimely murther, and now of his watry graue).
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 232 So went he suited to his watery tombe. View more context for this quotation
1707 J. Stevens tr. Justina in Spanish Libertines 2 He Dy'd at Barcelona a Watery Death.
1786 P. M. Freneau Poems 170 Beneath us depths unfathom'd lie.., A wat'ry tomb of ocean-green And only one frail plank between!
1796 R. F. Cheetham Odes & Misc. 54 O save us from a watery fate, If such the gracious will of heav'n.
1829 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. 2nd Ser. I. ix. 265 The horrours and deplorable consequences of a watery grave.
1831 W. Scott Count Robert v, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. III. 114 To exchange..a watery death for one by the more dreadful agency of fire.
1868 E. Gutch Notes Un-natural Hist. i. 8 He..finally drowned himself. Arondo-ienu likewise came to a watery end.
1911 Washington Post 26 Feb. (Miscellany section) 5/1 The body of John Wilkes Booth was not..consigned to a watery grave in the Atlantic Ocean, but it was buried with great secrecy.
1980 Austral. Financial Rev. 11 Jan. 1/1 The tax schemes are jokingly referred to as ‘Bottom of the Harbour Pty Ltd’, by members of the Sydney tax avoidance fraternity, as many of the documents have gone to a watery grave.
1991 J. Whitlark Behind Great Wall vi. 136 Kafka's story concludes with the protagonist..leaping to a watery death at the order of his father.
2009 D. O'Briain Tickling Eng. xvii. 255 You can see the waters churn through the gaps in the boards! A watery grave could be only moments away!
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > rainbow > [adjective] > attribute of rainbow
watery1600
showery arch1667
1600 Wisdome Doctor Dodypoll i. sig. A3v Looke on the ayre, where with a hundred changes The watry Rain-bow doth imbrace the earth.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 71 The Queene o' th Skie, Whose watry Arch, and messenger, am I. View more context for this quotation
1755 E. Young Centaur ii, in Wks. (1757) IV. 145 As if in kindly showers the watry bow had shed all its most celestial colours on it.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Witch of Atlas in Compl. Wks. (1904) 412 The watery bow burned in the evening flame.
1854 W. K. Kelly tr. Tibullus Elegies iv, in Erotica 116 The watery bow, marking the sky with its parti-coloured dyes.
4.
a. Of the eyes: filled or overflowing with tears in response to a physical cause (irritation, infection, obstruction of a lacrimal duct, etc.). Cf. watering adj. 2a.See also watery eye n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > [adjective] > watery or gummy
waterya1398
watering1447
watered?c1450
vapoureda1542
waterish1561
weeping1566
gummy1580
liquid1598
swimming1703
gravy-eyed1785
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. xliii. 937 Plius..seiþ þat amonge þe Grees is many maner kynde of oynouns, and of al his smyl makeþ yhen watery [L. est odor lacrimosus].
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 134 Glowtynge ne twynkelynge with youre yȝe, ne..watery, wynkynge, ne droppynge, but of sight clere.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. bij An hauke that is broght vp vnder a Bussard or a Puttocke: as mony be: hath wateri Eyghen.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxi. xix. 103 But a peculiar vertue they [sc. violets] have besides to stay the running and waterie eyes.
1697 A. S. Gentleman's Compl. Jockey 93 All these Distempers are cured by the Medicine following. All Watry Eyes. All Blood-shotten Eyes [etc.].
1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxv. 309 His eyes became very red, watery, and intolerant of light.
1916 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 23 Dec. 876/2 ‘Minor ailments’ is a term covering a multitude of defects, from scabby faces to ringworm, and a watery eye.
2000 Here's Health May 29/2 Take euphrasia for watery, itchy eyes and a runny but not irritated nose; allium cepa if your nose is irritated and your eyes are watery but not itchy.
b. Of the eyes: filled with or shedding tears, weeping, as a result of strong emotion, esp. sadness. Hence of speech or action: characterized by weeping; tearful.Also of the cheeks: wet with tears; cf. watered adj.1 2b (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > weeping > [adjective] > suffused or wet with tears
wet?c1225
beweptc1320
tearyc1374
moistc1390
watery1447
watered1571
blubberedc1575
vaporous1583
swelling1769
moist-eyed1797
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 5983 (MED) Wyth wattry yhe The shypmen he preyid & yaf hem yiftys also.
a1500 ( J. Lydgate tr. Life St. Alban & St. Amphibal (Lansd.) (1974) l. 3463 (MED) Pitous moodris ther sobbyng can nat lete, Whoos wattry eyen with wepyng wer made rede.
1588 R. Greene Pandosto sig. C4 Pandosto would once a day repaire to the Tombe, and there with watry plaintes bewaile his misfortune.
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 1362 With fained face, and watrie eyne halfe weeping.
1628 W. Fuller Mourning Mt. Libanon 9 My selfe followed with drie eyes the happy herse. By-standers with watry cheekes admyring.
a1647 F. Gorges Amer. painted to Life: Hist. Spaniards (1659) vii. 213 [Their] mournful looks and watry eyes did plainly demonstrate the tender affection and great esteem he was in with the people.
1737 R. Glover Leonidas v. 171 He with wat'ry cheeks, And dumb with sorrow clasps his dying friend.
1793 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 69/1 But, oh, ye watery eyes! Restrain, restrain your melancholy tides!
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott IV. xi. 356 The Royal Exile surveyed it with a flushed cheek and a watery eye.
1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes I. xxvi. 254 Little Rosey and her mother sobbed audibly,..to the surprise of..Miss Honeyman, who had no idea of such watery exhibitions.
1906 M. Westrup Young O'Briens i. 1 ‘I hope we shall be back in about ten or eleven months.’ ‘But—but not—’ came a watery stammer from Molly's corner.
1987 R. Hall Kisses of Enemy (1990) iii. lxiv. 386 She hung up, stood,..pushed past Sikorski shooting him a watery plea to get out of her life.
2000 Washington Post (Nexis) 18 Apr. (Sports section) d1 You could see it in Steve Konowalchuk's watery eyes. It looked like defeat, a bad defeat.
c. Of the mouth: filled or running with saliva, esp. in anticipation of something appetizing or appealing, or excessively as a symptom of a disease or condition. Formerly also of the jaws, teeth, etc. Cf. watering adj. 2b.See also watery mouth n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > secretory organs > action or process of secreting > secreting spec. > [adjective] > secreting saliva > flowing in mouth
watery1624
watering1630
mouth-watering1779
1624 R. Bellings Sixth Bk. Arcadia Epigraph sig. P2 Sometimes his watry mouth and downecast eyes, For pittie craves the ebbing flood to rise.
1651 J. Ogilby Fables of Æsop Paraphras'd ii. xxvi. 8 With watry Jaws drie glasse Sir Reynard licks.
?1697 J. Lewis Mem. Duke of Glocester (1789) 50 The Duke was not the stoutest child, and had been subject to a watry mouth, which now grew better.
1725 E. Howard Misc. Prose & Verse 112 An amorous Swain a small distance off, with Watery Teeth, admiring stood, altho' he durst not touch or yet draw nearer to her Beauteous Form.
1775 W. Grant Ess. Pestilential Fever 101 In most cases, a sick stomach makes a watery mouth.
1845 C. Dickens Chimes 31 ‘Yes Sir,’ repeated Trotty, looking, with a fixed eye and a watery mouth, at the piece of tripe he had reserved fro a last delicious tit-bit.
1909 Hahnemannian Monthly June 470 The mouth is watery, secreting too much saliva.
2014 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 11 Sept. (Clearwater Gaz.) 3 Reaction to the jumbo shrimp on the FWC's Facebook page was a mix of watery mouths and pure disgust.
5.
a. Of food: containing too much liquid or moisture; tasting too much like water; thin, flavourless. Of drink: having too little flavour; excessively diluted.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consistency of food > [adjective] > sloppy
waterya1425
lashc1440
washy1615
plashya1656
wish-washy1814
wish-wash1896
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > supplied with water
waterya1425
watered1531
watered1688
a1425 ( H. Daniel Liber Uricrisiarum (Wellcome 225) 274 (MED) To þam þat havys þe stane or are disposed to þe stane are noyous..all syk thyngys þat lettys digestioun, as rayn water, snaw water, & watry fruet.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. l. 195 Olyuys..With drasty wattry fruyt.
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges ii. sig. I.iii Somtyme is the wyne soure, watery and so bad That onely the colour myght make a man be mad.
1565 J. Hall Expositiue Table 66 in tr. Lanfranc Most Excellent Woorke Chirurg. Those [apples] that are watery and without taste doe bende to coldenes.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler vi. 136 The He Salmon..is more kipper..then the She is; yet she is..as watry and as bad meat. View more context for this quotation
1660 A. Woodhead tr. St. Augustine Life vi. ii. 87 The same small cup served her for them all; which not only much watery, but also by carriage very hot and unrefreshing.
1724 P. Miller Gardeners & Florists Dict. II. at Pear-trees The Valley-pear is a watery Fruit, not much in Esteem.
1769 R. Weston Tracts Pract. Agric. & Gardening xxiv. 252 The insipid watery flavour of the London milk, cannot but give a great distaste to every one to it, who has been used to eat milk and cream, produced by the country farmers.
1846 A. Soyer Gastron. Regenerator 451 Be careful they [sc. asparagus tops] are not too much done, or they would go in purée and taste watery.
1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust I. vi. 124 We're cooking watery soup for beggars.
1937 Life 10 May 2/1 (advt.) That last ‘inch’ of your Collins, does it taste weak, watery?
1980 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 25 June c1/2 The meat is just a little less silky, more watery and slightly more acidic than the red snapper's.
2013 A. Comsti From our Table to Yours (2014) 70 Native tomatoes..have a more concentrated flavour, are juicier and aren't as watery as imported tomatoes.
b. Of a plant or plant part: containing a high proportion of moisture; sappy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > plant substances > [adjective] > having fluid or sap
sappy1100
moista1382
wateryc1425
fatty1552
juiced1597
succulent1601
juiceful1619
succiferous1655
lymphatic1673
racy1676
lymphous1682
succous1694
succose1859
sebaceous1899
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 3382 (MED) Þat first was raw in fruitis & in flouris, And watrie eke be plente of humours, He drieth vp and ripeth.
1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell 45 When the teeth of any beast is loose, so long he cannot well eate his meate, which somtimes commeth..by a colde reume, gotten..by eating of much watery grasse.
1678 tr. M. Charas Royal Pharmacopœa i. xxxi. 22 The same method is to be observ'd very near in the pressing of watry Fruits.
1749 W. Ellis Compl. Syst. Improvem. Sheep 121 Turnips are hot, watery roots.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 84 By greatly increasing the perspiration of the leaves and other parts of plants, wind renders them less watery.
1882 Garden 20 May 354/2 It rarely happens that we find a single watery shoot in a tree which requires pinchings to maintain the proper balance of the sap.
1959 E. M. Thomas Harmless People vi. 105 We were going particularly to look for bi, a fibrous, watery root that is the mainstay of the Bushmen's diet.
1999 Impact on Changing World (International Potato Center) 323 (table) Roots [of sweet potato Tapol] unsweet, watery; leaves for vegetable.
2008 B. W. Higman Jamaican Food v. 171 The Cucurbitaceae consist of many species, characterized by watery fruit growing on straggly vines.
6. Of a solution or decoction: made with water; aqueous. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical properties > [adjective] > of or relating to miscellaneous other properties
sweet1666
nimble1671
watery1741
unvitriolized1757
greedy1758
unneutralized1758
unvitrifiable1758
free1783
fixed1800
nascent1800
inorganic1831
assimilative1837
unnitrogenized1846
inactive1848
kaligenous1854
unacceptant1866
aggressive1888
oligodynamic1893
chromotropic1899
undissociated1899
osmophoric1901
thermochromic1904
unary1923
non-stoichiometric1943
odoriphoric1944
slow-release1946
sonoluminescent1961
uniaxial1965
1741 tr. H. D. Gaubius Compl. Extemporaneous Dispensatory 196 The best menstruum for this form, is pure boiling water; or else some thin and watery decoction [L. decoctum aquosum].
1782 R. Willan Observ. Sulphur-water 16 I previous determined the presence of sea-salt, by dropping solution of silver into this watery solution of the salts in the sediment.
1823 W. Henry Elem. Exper. Chem. (ed. 9) II. 518 The watery solution..may contain a variety of salts.
1871 B. Stewart Heat (ed. 2) §53 Various watery solutions also possess their own points of maximum density.
1915 J. M. Beattie Post-mortem Methods App. 218 Carbolic acid (1 in 20 watery solution).
1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. vii. 85 The chemical reactions necessary to life can only be carried out in a watery, or aqueous, solution.
II. Resembling or evocative of water or its characteristics.† 10. Heraldry. = undy adj. Cf. wavy adj. 6c. Obsolete.
7. Resembling water in consistency; fluid; thin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > like or of nature of water > in consistence
wateryeOE
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxxii. 236 Gif se utgang sie windig & wætrig & blodig, beþige mon þone bæcþearm on gongstole.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. v. xxxvi. 240 Þe herte somtyme quakeþ, and þat comeþ of watiry moisture.
c1425 tr. J. Arderne Treat. Fistula (Sloane 6) (1910) 59 (MED) Raw fruytez gendreþ watry blode.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. l. 7 Ffor now this vines..Not wattery but thicke humoures wepe.
1540 R. Jonas tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. f. xxxii The secondyne..wyll..dyssolue into a watery substance, thycke lyke bryne.
1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. iv. ii. f. 15 Boyle them and take two pounde of the Musilage and boyle it with the other thynges vntyll all that is waterye bee consumed.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §30 Quick Siluer, (which is a most Crude and Watry Body).
1673 N. Grew Let. 11 Dec. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1975) X. 391 Ye Juyces..are different not only in colour, but also in Tast and substance, ye one perfectly limpid, less tastable, and watery; ye other perfectly white, hot and pungent, and exceedingly oily.
1754 S. Mihles tr. A. von Haller Physiol. II. xxvi. 179 The spleen..may supply a sort of watery juice to the bile.
1787 in 6th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Rec. ii. 177 When the mixture of Oil or Oily Substances with Acetous or Watery Liquors is required.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 283 The mistletoe..can live on all exogens of which the ascending sap is of a watery consistence.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 815 From the watery conditions of the blood results a transudation of serum.
1921 Soda Fountain Sept. 74/1 This bud is removed, leaving a cavity in which the watery sap collects.
1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. vii. 85 The cells of all living organisms are characterised by the presence of a watery gelatinous fluid called protoplasm.
2004 Irish Times (Nexis) 7 Dec. 3 The vomiting is both copious and projectile and diarrhoea is watery.
8. Resembling water in appearance or colour; (of colour, sunshine, etc.) pale, weak.With reference to the sun or its light, sometimes implying overcast conditions which threaten rain; cf. sense 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > faint or weak
wateryOE
dima1250
lighta1398
rare?1440
delayed1543
faint1552
weak1585
pale1598
distempered1621
washya1639
thin1649
languid1663
dilute1665
welmish1688
sickly1695
dimmed1863
OE Ælfric Interrogationes Sigewulfi in Genesin (Corpus Cambr. 162) lv, in Anglia (1884) 7 38 On þam tacne is wæteres hiw & fyres, & þæt tacn þæt is se renboga cymð of þam sunbeame & of wætum wolcne to þan þæt he sy middanearde to orsorhnysse mid þam wæterigan bleo, þæt wæter us eft ealle ne adrence.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 239 Þe bowe haþ tweie coloures, þe vtter is watery [L. cæruleum, id est, aqueum]..; þe ynnere is fury.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvi. xxx. 841 Cristalle is a bright stoon and clere wiþ watry colour.
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 1417 Me thought, I sawgh a Reyne-bowe Of blywe and rede and watiry grene.
c1450 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Durh.) iv. l. 4 (MED) Phebus chare neyeth to aquarye, His watry beamez to-fore feverer, Whan that his light was pale and no-thyng clere.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. Prol. l. 100 Latonya, the lang irksum nyght, Hir subtell blenkis sched and watry lycht.
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 176/2 Aqueus,..a pale white like water, or a waterie colour.
1616 F. Bacon Let. 21 Feb. in Resuscitatio (1657) 70 The Sun sheweth, sometimes, watry, to our Eyes, but when the Cloud is gone, the Sun is as before.
1625 S. Jerome Englands Iubilee iii. xi. 157 As a waterie glimmering Sunne ends in raine, our profession of the service of the true God..ends in profanation.
1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes iii. iii. 46 in Wks. II In a braue broth, and of a watry greene, Iust the Sea-colour.
1685 J. S. tr. Famous Hist. Prince Palmerin of Eng. i. xxv. 50 [Their joy] exceeded the rest, as does the Suns bright beams the pale and watery glimering of the Moon.
a1771 T. Gray tr. T. Tasso in Wks. (1814) II. 91 The watery glimmerings of a fainter day.
1808 W. Scott Marmion i. Introd. 4 Where yet some faded herbage pines, And yet a watery sun-beam shines.
1886 W. J. Tucker Life E. Europe 401 His eyes were small and of a watery blue.
1903 J. Conrad & F. M. Hueffer Romance (1904) i. ii. 12 A watery light before the moon's rising slanted downwards from the hilltop along the opposite bank.
1963 R. Goepper Essence of Chinese Painting 48 Colour..has become quite pale and fluid and is limited to a few delicate tints, chiefly a watery blue and a light ochre yellow.
1975 Motor Boating & Sailing Apr. 122/1 The sun emerges in a dim, watery sort of way.
2005 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 8 Nov. 25 The whole left-hand side of the picture is bathed in a watery moonlight.
9.
a. Of speech, style, emotion, a person, etc.: vapid, insipid; lacking in substance or interest; thin, feeble, weak.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adjective] > weak (of immaterial things)
thin?c1225
wateryc1230
feeble1393
wash1548
waterish1549
fadea1554
limping1577
dilute1605
lank1607
languid1622
water gruel1630
invalid1635
sinewless1644
exsanguine1647
flaccid1647
diluted1681
wishy-washy1693
tiffany1694
foible1715
rickety1738
faintly1771
unrobust1775
pale1820
peely-wally1832
muscleless1841
weakling1848
weedy?1858
feeblose1882
papery1924
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > qualities of works generally
wateryc1230
polite?a1500
meagre1539
over-laboured1579
bald1589
spiritless1592
light1597
meretricious1633
standing1661
effectual1662
airy1664
severe1665
correct1676
enervatea1704
free1728
classic1743
academic1752
academical1752
chaste1753
nerveless1763
epic1769
crude1786
effective1790
creative1791
soulless1794
mannered1796
manneristical1830
manneristic1837
subjective1840
inartisticala1849
abstract1857
inartistic1859
literary1900
period1905
atmospheric1908
dateless1908
atmosphered1920
non-naturalistic1925
self-indulgent1926
free-styled1933
soft-centred1935
freestyle1938
pseudish1938
decadent1942
post-human1944
kitschy1946
faux-naïf1958
spare1965
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [adjective] > vapid or insipid
pappy1597
watery1605
milk-and-water1753
vapid1758
unracy1782
swashy1796
washy1806
milk-and-waterish1807
wish-washy1814
insipid1845
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 191 Þe heorte þe wes weattri. smechles ne ne felde na sauur of godd.
c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 89 (MED) Bi þis, modur, þou maist knowe where Crist be at þi wedlac or þe deuel: bi turnynge wateri loue of wordli þinges to gostli loue, þat is wyn, makinge glad and murie God and angelis.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. E3v Then grew the flowing, and watrie vaine of Osorius the Portugall Bishop, to be in price. View more context for this quotation
1673 E. Hickeringill Gregory 183 A loose, flashy, watery memory that will hold no print.
1811 Eclectic Rev. Mar. 274 We are afraid this discourse is rather too weak and watery to succeed in a contest with vinous liquors.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present ii. ii. 67 Through the thin watery gossip of our Jocelin, we do get some glimpses of that deep-buried Time.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 204 Do not tell me that justice is duty..for that sort of watery stuff will not do for me.
1904 M. Hewlett Queen's Quair ii. vi. 265 She would calculate as she listened..to what extent she might serve herself yet of this watery fool.
1934 D. Thomas Let. 9 May (1987) 131 Frank Kendon..printed a terribly weak, watery little thing of mine..last week.
1995 A. Tyler Ladder of Years iv. 55 To hear Sam tell it, his father had not been much use anyhow—a weak and ineffectual, watery sort of man.
2014 Sunday Business Post (Ireland) (Nexis) 9 Feb. Neutered by its catch-all 12a rating, hackneyed scripting and watery performances, this Robocop plays out like a particularly uninspired video game.
b. Of a smile: not conveying true or settled happiness; weak, lacking in conviction.Often with implication of barely restrained tears, or of having recently been crying; cf. sense 4b.
ΚΠ
1785 S. Lee Recess III. vi. 257 I strove with cold and watery smiles to flatter those hopes in her heart my own had long rejected.
1818 A. M. Porter Fast of St. Magdalen II. 227 Ippolita noticed Renati's blunt expression of concern, with an inclination of her head, and a watery smile.
1891 Conductor & Brakeman Jan. 45/1 Straightway Nellie did leave off crying, and a little watery ghost of a smile crept back into her eyes.
1921 Woman's Home Compan. Oct. 92/3 Charley came in, smiling a watery smile and palpably red-eyed.
1960 T. Benn Diary 30 Sept. in Years of Hope (1994) iv. 343 I..asked if he would agree to meet me the following morning. He looked very wooden and gave me the wateriest of smiles but finally agreed.
2006 ‘J. Goodman’ One Forbidden Evening iii. 74 Although the countess's eyes no longer glistened with tears, her smile was a trifle watery.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > lines or edges > [adjective] > wavy
oundeda1425
oundya1425
undated1486
watery1486
undee1513
wavé1513
undade1562
wavy1562
undy1592
waved1610
surged1688
1486 Blasyng of Armys sig. dviv, in Bk. St. Albans Palyt armys oftyme ar founde vndatyt that is to say watteri.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie iii. f. 9v These bendes sinister vndadie or waterie, maye foreshowe some..enterprise done by force, violence, or rage of the waters.
c1828 W. Berry Encycl. Her. I. Gloss. Watery. This term sometimes occurs, and is used in the same sense as wavy, or undée.
Compounds
C1. In parasynthetic adjectives, as watery-eyed, etc.
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a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xii. Prol. l. 110 Sum hevynly culloryt in celestiall gre, Sum watry hewit as the haw wally see.
1568 G. Skeyne Breue Descriptioun Pest v. sig. A7 Vrine..first vaterie colourit thairefter of bilious colour.
1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Eyess, a [watery-eyed] hawk brought up under a Kite.
1683 London Gaz. No. 1805/4 A Sorrel Nag,..watery Eyed.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison I. 104 I am not afraid of those piping men: Tho' you have compassion for such watry-headed fellows, yet you have only compassion.
1832 T. Carlyle Misc. Ess. (1847) III. 35 Watery-mouthed hangers-on.
1851 Househ. Words 5 Apr. 28/2 This heavy, watery-headed baby.
1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. II. 351 This is the case with all the Indian watery-juiced climbers, at whatever season they may be cut.
1883 R. W. Dixon Mano iv. xv. 187 Mild Zephyrus..on his watery-coloured pinions flew, And into other regions took his way.
1922 W. B. Tucker Laurentian Tales ii. xiv. 190 These stars of green That lie upon the watery bosomed sheen.
1936 Jefferson (Iowa) Bee 17 Nov. 2/3 It is not a matter of whether she is an American or a Hottentot or a watery blooded heir of a European royal line.
2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 10 July 10 I get that watery-mouthed feeling and I need something sweet.
2007 M. Slouka Visible World v. 27 A watery-eyed old woman with long white hairs on her chin was sitting in a chair at the top of the stairs.
C2. Modifying colour words (cf. sense 8) to form adjectives and nouns, as watery-blue, watery-green, etc. Cf. water n. Compounds 6b.
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1728 Philos. Trans. 1726–7 (Royal Soc.) 34 114 The Glands on the top of the Crop were..of the Bigness of little Oculi Cancrorum, and of a watery-brown Colour.
1798 C. Abbot Flora Bedfordiensis 297 Mealy Agaric... Cap rather convex, purplish-brown, gills convex, distant, watery-pink, mealy.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. XXI. at Line, Angling The best colours for a line are sorrel, white, and grey... The pale watery-green is also a very good colour.
1841 J. Bullar & H. Bullar Winter in Azores I. iii. 41 A little boy..appears in a diminutive carapuça of watery-blue velvet.
1872 24th Ann. Rep. N.Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist. 61 The black points seated on the radiations, varying in color from watery-gray to dull watery-yellow.
1919 F. L. Packard Night Operator vii. 214 The watery-blue eyes sought the toes of their owner's grease-smeared, thickly-patched brogans.
1998 M. Hulse tr. W. G. Sebald Rings of Saturn (1999) 162 That truly unusual head..was made the more striking by his bushy, fiery-red shock of hair and his piercing, watery-green eyes.
C3. † watery head n. Obsolete hydrocephalus; an instance of this.
watery eye n. Medicine (now rare) excessive watering of the eye; = epiphora n. 1.
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1659 E. Gayton Art Longevity 66 Good against Watry-eye, and scurfie head Of children, and any tumor therein bred.
1799 M. Underwood Treat. Dis. Children (ed. 4) II. 35 [Ophthalmia] will sometimes degenerate into what is termed the watery eye... There is, however, a case of watery-eye attending older children, in which the discharge is very hot and acrid.
1818 J. Ware (title) Observations on the treatment of the epiphora, or watery eye.
2001 J. Le Fanu They don't know what's Wrong i. 17 When..the eyelids are fine and the duct is not blocked, then watery eye is likely to be due to an age-related defect of the tear film.
watery humour n. Anatomy (now rare) the aqueous humour of the eye (see aqueous adj. 1b).
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > [noun] > wateriness
lachrymation1598
watery humour1612
epiphora1657
1612 H. Peacham Graphice i. xviii. 66 It is round, but more flat towards the ball of the eye, that it might giue the watrie humor a better lustre.
1699 G. Harvey Vanities Philos. & Physick 169 To preserve the Eye-sight,..By attenuating the Horny Tunic and the watery Humour.
1796 N.-Y. Weekly Mag. 20 July 17/2 The hinder chamber, between the cornea and the crystal, contains a moist humour,..called the watery humour.
1894 A. Giberne Radiant Suns xv. 139 Between the cornea and the iris, in front of the eye, is the..watery humour.
1908 Trans. Childhood Soc. 4 23 Behind the cornea is a watery humour through which the rays pass with little alteration.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [noun] > disorders of brain > hydrocephalus
hydrocephalea1648
hydrocephalus1671
watery head1728
hydrocephaly1882
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Hydrocephalus A watery Head, or Dropsy in the Head.
1744 T. Dawkes Nurse's Guide 46 Sometimes children are born with a watry Head; this Case always requires the Skill of an able Surgeon.
1801 W. Rowley (title) A treatise on the new-discovered dropsy of the membranes of the brain, and watery head of children.
1878 F. Hollick Origin of Life (new ed.) 844 Hydrocephalus.—This consists of an accumulation of water in the head of the child, and is usually termed watery head.
watery itch n. now rare or disused an itchy vesicular rash (perhaps pompholyx).
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1813 T. Bateman Pract. Synopsis Cutaneous Dis. 194 The Scabies lymphatica, or watery itch, is distinguished by an eruption of transparent vesicles.
1857 J. Shew Hydropathic Family Physician 475 Vesicularis, or watery itch, in which the eruption is of larger and more perfect vesicles, filled with a transparent fluid.
1917 Pacific Coast Jrnl. Homeopathy 28 144 Ars.—In watery itch, etc.
watery mouth n. Veterinary Medicine (in lambs) infection of the mouth with Escherichia coli.
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1951 Bull. Edinb. & E. Scotl. Coll. Agric. No. 26. 52 Can you tell me the cause of slavery-mouthed lambs?..This is a very common condition. Quite often watery-mouth or slavery-mouth is associated with lamb dysentery.
1997 Farmers Guardian 19 Sept. 20/6 All lambs also receive injections against watery mouth and orf.
watery triplicity n. [compare post-classical Latin triplicitas aquea, triplicitas aquatica (both 14th cent. in British sources), Middle French triplicité de l'eaue, triplictité aquatique (both a1498; French triplicité d'eau)] Astrology the triplicity comprising the signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, which are associated with the element of water (see sense 1c); also figurative.
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1583 R. Harvey Astrological Disc. 29 Both Saturne and Iupiter shall forsake Pisces the last signe of the watrie Triplicitie.
1775 Poor Robin sig. C8v There will be frequent Conjunctions of Sirloins and Ribs of Beef..celebrated near the watry Triplicity of Plumb-Porridge.
1998 L. Smoller in A. Ferreiro Devil, Heresy & Witchcraft in Middle Ages 226 Since the earthy triplicity had seen the birth of Christ, Jean reasoned, it was only logical to expect the arrival of Antichrist to come under the watery triplicity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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