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ˈwater-way
[Cf. (M)LG. waterwech drain, G. wasserweg (1) way by water, water as a way, (2) a watercourse.]
†1. Used in OE. with uncertain meaning.
Explained by Bosworth-Toller as ‘a channel connecting two pieces of water’. This is possible, but in quot. c 1000 the lemma means ‘paths’, and the entry occurs in a group of words meaning ‘road’ or ‘path’. Perh. the sense may be ‘a road along which a stream runs’ (cf. water-lane).
932Charter in Kemble Cod. Dipl. No. 1107 V. 207 Andlang burnan on ðone æwylm; of ðam ewylme andlang wæterweᵹes up to strete. 956Charter ibid. No. 1198 V. 374 Andlang burnan on wæterweᵹ; of ðan wæterweᵹe on wæterhammes. c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 146/37 Tramites, wæterweᵹ.
2. A channel for the escape or passage of water.
c1440Promp. Parv. 518/1 Water wey, meatus. 1662Atwell Faithf. Surveyor 88 If you are to bring it [sc. the trench] over some ditch or brook, where the water is lower then your water-way, then must you [etc.]. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 96 Through the waterway the water presses during the rising tide into a large reservoir. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 325 If the water is to be carried away by a tunnel, the water-way is arched over and the space above levelled in with earth. 1862Rep. Directors E. Ind. Rlwy. Co. 30, I find that the waterways shown on last year's sections by the different Engineers..are very deficient. 1878Ansted Water & Water Supply 161 The alluvial bed is wide, but the channel or water-way, except after heavy rain, is small. 1889Rider Haggard Allan's Wife xii, This gully had a water-way at the bottom of it.
3. Naut. A long piece of timber, hollowed in the middle, serving to connect the deck of a ship with the side, and to form a channel for carrying off water from the deck by means of the scuppers.
c1635N. Boteler Dialogues about Sea Services (1685) 149 Water way is that small piece or ledge of timber which lieth on the ship's deck..to keep the water from running down there. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 158 Her water⁓ways were open and decayed. 1750T. R. Blanckley Nav. Expositor, Water ways, is that Strake of Plank on the Flat of each Deck respectively next the Ship's Side, for turning the Water out of the Seams. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xv. 39 Everything has been moved in the hold, from stem to stern, and from the water-ways to the keelson. 1884Law Times LXXVII. 26/2 A tug towed at her for an hour and a half before she was got off, during that time her decks and waterways were much strained.
4. a. A route for travel or transport by water; a river, canal, or a portion of a sea or lake, viewed as a medium of transit.
1797G. Imlay Topogr. Descr. W. Territory N. Amer. (ed. 3) 34 Major Willis..found 1300 yards clear water-way between the lower beaches or counter-shores of the banks on both sides of the river. 1832J. S. Mill Let. 24 May in Wks. (1963) XII. 99 Yet if such glimpses are numerous, some general tendency shall predominate even in the few furlongs of water-way which they may chance to disclose. 1858Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 167 Pleasant are those hidden waterways. 1869Rogers A. Smith's W.N. I. i. iii. 20 note, When time is no object, the use of a water-way, even though it be artificial, is vastly cheaper than that of any road on land. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 88 The river is the grand waterway for the produce of the Urals and Central Russia. 1904W. M. Ramsay Lett. Seven Ch. Asia iv. 48 When a waterway is needed, as at Glasgow, we transform a little stream into a navigable river. 1905Lyall Life Marq. Dufferin I. vii. 262 The proposal in the draft treaty, that the waterway of the St. Lawrence should be improved,..was opposed. 1915A. Hurd in Daily Tel. 24 Aug. 8/7 The Russians have their main fleet elsewhere,..the defence of this particular waterway [sc. the Gulf of Riga] was entrusted to a number of older ships.
b. Distance to be travelled by water.
1883G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads ix. 74 The lack of railway and inn accommodation and the length of water-way rendered a cabin necessary.
c. (Right of) access by water.
1883G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xvi. 122 One of the abbots of St. Benedict's once sued the citizens of Norwich for an interference with his right of water-way up to his possessions higher up the river.
d. A track across the water. nonce-use.
1865Swinburne Chastelard i. ii. 31 Between the sundown and the sea Love watched one hour of love with me; Then down the all-golden water-ways His feet flew after yesterday's.
5. The breadth of a navigable watercourse; esp. the breadth allowed for the watercourse of a canal or the like (exclusive of towpaths, etc.) passing under a bridge or tunnel.
1739C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 75 More free Water-way is left for the Stream..than the whole Breadth of the River at the Horse-Ferry. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Bridge, These arches give..a water-way of 870 feet. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 16 Total Water-way 755 Feet 5 Inches. 1791R. Mylne 2nd Rep. Thames Navig. 8 The Water-way..is much contracted by the Bank..having grown forward, beyond the opening of the Buttment Arch. 1800Telford in Plymley Agric. Shropsh. (1803) 301 By this towing-path being hollow below, there is a water-way in the tunnel of ten feet, instead of seven feet. 1838Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 322/1 The Canal Company..demanded..an arch 31 feet wide, 24 for water-way, and 7 for towing path. 1902Times 26 Nov. 16/5 The Thames Conservancy..have made demands in regard to waterway and headway which must render it exceedingly difficult [etc.].
6. An opening for the passage of vessels; a (broader or narrower) course available for navigation; esp. the passage by which vessels enter and leave a harbour, the fairway.
1883Manch. Guard. 18 Oct. 4/7 The Suez Canal Company's engineers have prepared alternative sets of plans for the improvement of the waterway. 1884J. Colborne With Hicks Pasha 106 The waterway was considerably reduced in breadth by a large well-cultivated island. 1894Law Times Rep. LXXI. 102/2 The breadth of available waterway depends upon the draught of the vessels navigating it.
7. The full-open passage area in a cock or valve.
1744Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. 524 His three Valves (whose Water-way taken together was 48 Inches). 1797J. Curr Coal Viewer 63 Injection cocks with square shanks, 4½ inches by 11/4 inch water way. 1802Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. I. 164 As the sudden stoppage of the descent of the column AB, at the instant when the two plugs were both in the water way, might jar and shake the apparatus, those plugs are made [etc.]. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 276 The pressure of the incumbent column of water is supported by the plates G G, whose circular edges rest on the brim of the water-way... This piston has every advantage of strength, tightness, and large water-way. |