a. a. Of a country: Producing water; not arid. b. Geol. Of a stratum, bed: Through which water percolates.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xlii. The little sienite peak, the last symptom of a water-bearing country, has disappeared behind us.
1862. Rep. Directors E. Ind. Railway Co., 23. The large well has been completed, a water-bearing stratum having been reached.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 33. The liquid with which the water-bearing bed is charged.
1890. Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip, XXVI. 249. The sandstones and pebble beds are noted for their water-bearing characteristics.
