| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈwater-gauge, -gage
(See quots.)
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Water-gage..an Instrument to gage or measure the Quantity or Depth of any Water. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 316 When the boiler is observed to have got a sufficient supply—which is indicated by a float water-gauge—the discharge from the pump is turned off. 1886J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 71 Water-gauge, a U-shaped glass tube for measuring the difference of pressure between the intake and return air; an indicator showing the quantity of water in a steam boiler; a notched board for measuring flow of water.
attrib.1883W. C. Russell Sailors' Lang., Water-gauge cocks, small cocks placed in front of a marine boiler, by opening which the height of the water in the boiler is ascertained.
▪ II. [water-gauge, -gage
explained in many Dicts. to mean ‘a sea-wall or bank to restrain the current and overflowing of the water’, is a spurious word, evolved from the false reading watergaugia, -iis, -iorum for watergangia, etc. (= watergang 2) in the 1597 edition of a Romney charter of 1252.
The explanation was given in Spelman's Glossarium (1664), whence it was copied in the Dictionarium Rusticum (1704), followed by Phillips (ed. Kersey, 1706) and later Dicts.
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