a. [BORNE ppl. a.]
1. Of a boat: Supported by the water so as to be clear of the ground or bottom upon which it has rested; afloat.
1608. Relat. Trav. W. Bush, E 2 b. Into which River he passed with his wheeles, vntill he was water-borne.
1644. Manwayring, Sea-mans Dict., 114. When a ship is even just of the ground that she floates, then she is water-borne.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., II. 254. Launches … were employed in carrying out warps to drag the ships through the mud, as soon as they should be water-borne.
1896. Strand Mag., XII. 322/1. The available width for launching is limited, and ships, as a rule, must be pulled up as soon as they are water-borne or completely afloat.
b. transf. Said of a living body or an inanimate object.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea Painter’s Log, i. 13. Redshanks, godwits, knots, and other waders can move as fast or faster just waterborne in shallow pools … than they can run.
1886. Manch. Courier, 14 Dec., 8/5. He thought most of the [capsized lifeboat] men were water-borne.
1897. Kipling, Captains Courageous, iii. 73. In a dory the weight of a cod is water-borne till the last minute.
2. Of goods: a. Carried or transported by water; conveyed by ship or boat. Hence of traffic, commerce.
1702. Luttrell, Brief Rel., V. 158. This day they [the commons] … past the bill for measuring waterborn fruit.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4818/1. Duties upon Coals to be Water-born, and carried Coast-wise.
1790. Act 30 Geo. III., c. 55 § 17. Butter … to be … water-borne, from the said Market, shall be viewed.
1800. Colquhoun, Comm. Thames, xi. 331. Fruit and Vegetables, water-borne on the Thames.
1871. Daily News, 19 May. Scarcely one-third of the fish brought to Billingsgate is waterborne.
1916. Blackw. Mag., July, 35/2. The orders were to avoid all collisions with the enemy as long as he made no attempt to interrupt our water-borne traffic.
1916. David Hannay, in Edin. Rev., July, 180. Sailing directions are as old as water-borne commerce.
b. Put aboard a vessel for shipment.
1558–9. Gresham, in Burgon, Life (1839), I. 258. To understand perfectly at the customers’ hands, at the same day, whether all the cloths and kerseys be entryed and shipped and water-borne. And being once all water-borne, then to make a stay of all the fleete.
1662. Act 14 Chas. II., c. 11 § 7. If any Wharfinger … shall Ship off or suffer to be Water-born at or from any of theire said Wharfs … any Goods … prohibited … such Wharfinger … shall … pay the Summe of One hundred pounds.
1859. in Merc. Marine Mag. (1860), VII. 7. Goods thus shipped, or water-borne to be shipped.
3. Of disease: Communicated or propagated by the use of contaminated drinking-water.
1892. Daily News, 24 Nov., 2/1. Any waterborne epidemic.
1894. Pop. Sci. Monthly, XLIV. 558. That leads to the dissemination of water-borne diseases.
