[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).
932. Charter, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., No. 1107 V. 207. Andlang burnan on ðone æwylm; of ðam ewylme andlang wæterweʓes up to strete.
956. Charter, ibid. No. 1198 V. 374. Andlang burnan on wæterweʓ; of ðan wæterweʓe on wæterhammes.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 146/37. Tramites, wæterweʓ.
2. A channel for the escape or passage of water.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 518/1. Water wey, meatus.
1662. Atwell, 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.].
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 96. Through the waterway the water presses during the rising tide into a large reservoir.
1844. H. 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.
1862. Rep. Directors E. Ind. Railway Co., 30. I find that the waterways shown on last year’s sections by the different Engineers … are very deficient.
1878. Ansted, Water & Water Supply, 161. The alluvial bed is wide, but the channel or water-way, except after heavy rain, is small.
1889. Rider 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.
c. 1635. Capt. N. 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.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iv. 158. Her water-ways were open and decayed.
1750. 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.
1840. R. 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.
1884. Law 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 route for travel or transport by water; a river, canal, or a portion of a sea or lake, viewed as a medium of transit.
1858. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), I. 167. Pleasant are those hidden waterways.
1869. Rogers, 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.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 88. The river is the grand waterway for the produce of the Urals and Central Russia.
1904. W. 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.
1905. Lyall, Life Marq. Dufferin, I. vii. 262. The proposal in the draft treaty, that the waterway of the St. Lawrence should be improved,… was opposed.
1915. A. 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.
1883. G. 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.
1883. G. 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.
1865. Swinburne, 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.
1739. 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.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Bridge, These arches give … a water-way of 870 feet.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 16. Total Water-way 755 Feet 5 Inches.
1791. R. 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.
1800. Telford, 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.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 322/1. The Canal Company … demanded … an arch 31 feet wide, 24 for water-way, and 7 for towing path.
1902. H. H. Statham, in Times, 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 harbor, the fairway.
1883. Manch. Guard., 18 Oct., 4/7. The Suez Canal Company’s engineers have prepared alternative sets of plans for the improvement of the waterway.
1884. J. Colborne, With Hicks Pasha, 106. The waterway was considerably reduced in breadth by a large well-cultivated island.
1894. Law 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.
1744. Desaguliers, Course Exper. Philos., II. 524. His three Valves (whose Water-way taken together was 48 Inches).
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 63. Injection cocks with square shanks, 41/2 inches by 11/4 inch water way.
1802. Nicholson’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.].
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 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.
