Inflected watered, watering. Forms: 1 wæterian, watrian, wætriʓan, 2 wettrien, watrien, 3 wattren (Orm. -enn), wattre, (wattur), 3–5, 7 Sc. watter, 4 watere, weteri, watrin, watre, 4–5 wetery, wateren, 5 watron, watir, 4– water. Pa. pple. 4 y-wetered, i-watred, y-watert. [OE. wæterian (also ʓe-), f. wæter WATER sb. Cf. MHG. weʓʓern, mod.G. wässern (dial. wassern), MLG. wateren, weteren, mod. LG. watern, wätern, Du. wateren.]
I. Transitive uses.
1. To give a drink of water to (an animal, esp. a horse on a journey); also, to take (cattle) to the water to drink.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xix. 3. Hiʓ awylton þone stan of þam pitte and hi heora orf þær wæterodon.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 9. A! hwa is þet mei þet hors wectrien [read wettrien] þe him self nule drinken?
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2745. Ðor he comen water to feten, And for to wattren here sep.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5685. Þai com to wattur þar þair fee.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 3234. Þat men miȝt legge him [a horse] mete & wateren atte wille.
1480. Cov. Leet Bk., 459. The people of this Citie … euer haue vsed tyll nowe late to water theire horses at the seid pole.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 85. Broken wynded … cometh of rennynge or rydynge ouer moche, and specially shortely after he is watred.
a. 1658. Ford, etc., Witch Edmonton, III. i. Get my horse dress’d: give him Oats; but water him not till I come.
1729. P. Walkden, Diary (1866), 62. I … then foddered and watered our Seed heifer.
1858. R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, lxxvii. 336. He pulled up … to get his mare watered and fed.
1891. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Sydney-side Sax., i. The beasts to be fed and watered.
1908. Animal Management (War Office), 289. It has been said that if a desert camel is frequently watered he loses his power of abstinence for long periods.
absol. 1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. xxvi. 15. They deprived themselves of the benefit of those wells, so that Isaac might not water at them.
1730. W. Burdon, Gentl. Pocket-Farrier, 26. Ever make it a standing Rule to water on the Way before you arrive at the baiting Place.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, xiv. We often stop to water at a roadside inn.
b. fig. and in fig. context.
1597. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Nov., 30. Nay, better learne of hem, that learned bee, And han be watered at the Muses well.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 314. Would the Fountaine of your minde were cleere againe, that I might water an Asse at it. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., II. iii. 23. And Phœbus gins arise, His Steeds to water at those Springs on chalic’d Flowres that lyes.
1654. Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston), Diary (S.H.S.), II. 267. God’s consolations … ar a fountayne,… and they ar tuyse a mercy in wattering ourselves and inaibling us to watter uthers.
1898. Meredith, Napoleon, v. Odes, 27. For even a hope in chained desire The vision of it watered thirst.
† c. In the name of a children’s game. Obs.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 27. One fault brought me into another after it, like Water my chickens, come clock.
2. To furnish with a supply of water. a. To supply water to (a company on a journey, an army on the march).
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lxxvii. 18 [15]. He slat stan on westene & wæterode hiʓ [a. 1300 E. E. Psalter, watred am. 1382 Wyclif, watride hem].
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VII. 301. He payed fiue Sultans of gold for Watering all vs and the Beasts.
1898. Daily News, 8 March, 3/2. In a campaign like this, where we shall always have the river beside us, the water-bottle is almost superfluity…. It should be easy to water troops at fixed intervals.
b. To furnish (a ship, fleet, boat) with a supply of fresh water.
1589. Bigges, Summarie Drake’s W. Ind. Voy., 42. After three dayes spent in watering our ships we departed.
1620. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1900), 215. Shee waighed [into the] road, and was by them watered, cawked, and supplied with [etc.].
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. v. 42. Our next employment was wooding and watering our squadron.
1793. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (ed. 2), I. 322. Lord Hood has gone to water the Fleet.
1844. Mrs. Houston, Yacht Voy. Texas, II. 252. Our last act and deed before we left Galveston, was watering and victualling the Dolphin.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xiii. He seized the town … and watered his ship triumphantly at the enemy’s wells.
c. To supply (an engine) with water.
1870. in Schele de Vere, Americanisms (1872), 359. I question if it be wise in running a railroad to water anything but the engine.
1898. Hamblen, Gen. Manager’s Story, xiv. 234. The awkward attempts of the new men, to get the few remaining dead engines watered and fired-up.
3. To supply water as aliment to (a plant, crop, etc.), esp. by pouring or sprinkling with a watering-can, hose or the like; to pour or sprinkle water on (soil) to promote the growth of plants (or occas. for other purposes: see e.g., quot. 1699).
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xl. 293. Sūmu treowu he watrode [Cotton watrade], to ðæm ðæt hie ðy suiður sceolden weaxan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 304. Se man ðe plantað treowa oððe wyrta, swa lange he hi wæterað oðþæt hi beoð ciðfæste.
c. 1200. Ormin, 13864. All swa summ erþe wattredd iss Þurrh reȝȝn & dæw off heffne.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21304. Þe first he tils þe feild to sede, þe toiþer he saus efter þe sede, þe thrid it harus … þe ferth it watters.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xxiv. 42. I seide, I shal watrin the gardyn of my plauntingus.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 518/2. Watron’, herbys (or other lyke, P.), irrigo, rigo, humecto.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 108 b. Be tender ouer them as ye wolde be ouer a noble & precyous plant…, attendyng it, watrynge it diligently.
1585–7. Acc. Mary Q. Scots (Camden), 17. Richarde Garrett and John Smyth, for mindinge and wateringe the garden, xij s. ij d.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XII. i. I. 358. They came to be so highly esteemed, that for to make them grow the better, men would be at the cost to water them with wine.
1662. Gerbier, Princ., 33. They are Watered with a Gardeners Watering-Pot.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 279. Who now shall reare ye to the Sun, or ranke Your Tribes, and water from th’ ambrosial Fount?
1699. Meager, New Art Garden., 130. To destroy Worms and other Insects,… water your Gravel-Walks with water wherein Tobacco stalks have been boiled.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 56. Strew the Seeds pretty thick,… keeping of them well water’d every Evening, except when the Season waters them.
1796. C. Marshall, Gardening, xx. (1813), 404. Water, if dry weather, new planted trees, shrubs, and flowers.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxvii. After we had finished helping the gardener in watering his flowers.
1917. M. Swayne, In Mesopotamia (ed. 3), xi. 161. The swiftness with which seeds grow when properly watered is uncanny.
absol. 1855. Delamer, Kitch. Gard. (1861), 22. If May should be very dry, I am obliged to water.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. viii. The ground was at last chosen [for the cricket match], and two men set to work upon it to water and roll.
b. fig. (See also 5 c.)
c. 1200. Ormin, 13848. To wattrenn & to dæwwenn swa Þurrh beʓʓske & sallte tæress Þatt herrte, þat … Iss … forrclungenn.
1340. Ayenb., 131. Þis trau [of mildenesse] is yzet bezide þe welle of godes drede huer-of hit is echedaye y-wetered ine wyntre and ine zomere.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. xxi. S viij b. God … instructeth oure reason … not onelye to receyue them [the spiritual affections] as engendred and planted in our soule, but also in suche wyse water them with wyse aduertisement of godly counsayle.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 23. I rais’d him…: who being so heighten’d, He watered his new Plants with dewes of Flattery, Seducing so my Friends.
1673–5. Comber, Comp. Temple (1702), 289. The Apostles … planted this Faith … and watred it with their blood.
1820. Shelley, Witch of Atlas, 27. Wordsworth informs us he was nineteen years Considering and retouching Peter Bell; Watering his laurels with the killing tears Of slow, dull care.
1874. Abp. Benson, in A. C. Benson, Life (1899), I. xi. 373. You have now to water the good seed you have sown with your prayers.
1876. J. Grant, One of Six Hundred, lii. 437. I resolved to return thankfully … home, to water my laurels among the … grassy glens of my native place.
absol. 1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. iii. 6. I plauntide, Apollo watride, or moystide, but God ȝaf encresynge.
1848. Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. ii. 43. Their blood hath watered and we shall reap.
c. To supply (land, crops) with water by flooding or by means of irrigation-channels; to irrigate.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 159. They founde manye fayre gardeyns and pleasaunte fyeldes watered with trenshes distrybuted in marueylous order.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 45 b. Some, where they may ouerflowe it [grass], doo water it a day before they cut it.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., III. 26. The Corn-land is never watered, because the Dew that falls plentifully in the Mornings, is sufficient for it.
1791. Rep. Commrs. Thames-Isis Navig., 26. A Hatch Gate … is drawn much in Short-water Time; to water the Meadows.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 275. He set to work, and built sluices, formed carrier trenches and drains; and thus watered 50 acres.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 268. To the person who shall, in a country where irrigation is not generally in practice, water the greatest number of acres.
† d. slang. To give free entertainment to; to ‘treat.’ Obs. rare.
1742. P. Yorke, Lett., 15 Dec., in G. Harris, Life Ld. Hardwicke (1847), II. vii. 43. Charles is watring the Quorum of Bennet, ten miles round; or, to speak less quaintly, is treating away at Cambridge.
4. Of a river, etc.: To supply water to (vegetation, land). Now chiefly passive.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. ii. 6. Ac an wyll asprang of þære eorðan wætriende ealre þære eorðan bradnysse. Ibid., ii. 10. And þæt flod eode of stowe þære winsumnisse to wætrienne neorxena wang.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, I. 133. Nilus ouerfloweþ and watereþ al þe lond of Egipte.
c. 1440. Capgrave, St. Kath., V. 1905. In stede of blood mylke ran at hir nekke…. It ran so plenteuously it wattered al the ground That lay abouten hir. O most merueylous welle!
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 133. Ryuers … wherwith al suche trees as are planted on the stiepe or foote of the mountaynes … are watered.
1590. E. Webbe, Trav. (Arb.), 22. All the grounde throughout the lande of Egipt is continually watred by the water which … is turned into the cuntries round about.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 25. This Prouince is mainely watered through the middle with stately Po.
1735. Johnson, Lobo’s Abyssinia, Descr., x. 102. It [the Nile] then waters the kingdoms of Amhara, Olaca, [etc.].
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 345. The road lies through a delightful valley, which is watered by the Isse or Itch.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 930. Stillest streams Oft water fairest meadows.
1820. Scott, Ivanhoe, i. In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don.
1853. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), II. I. ii. 63. Sogdiana is watered by a number of great rivers.
1901. Sladen, In Sicily, I. II. xix. 270–1. That rocky plateau … could … be converted into an almost impregnable fortress…. It is splendidly watered.
fig. 1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 277. Socrates … from whose mouth issu’d forth Mellifluous streams that water’d all the schools Of Academics old and new.
1788. Cowper, Negro’s Compl., 19. Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil.
† b. Of water, a river, etc.: To surround or bound (a city, fort). Chiefly pass. also with about.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 319. Hit was þe souerayne Citie of the Soyle euer,… Well wallit for werre, watrit aboute.
1572. T. Twyne, trans. Dionysius’ Surv. World, E vij. On the one side runneth Corus, an other Choaspes,… rising out of the River Indus, and watering the cittie Susa.
1589. Ive, Fortif., 25. Neither, if the Fort do stand well watered, need the face of the Curtin to be raised … higher then three or foure foote aboue the water.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 36. As for the Continent he [the King of Spain] is absolute lord of all that sea coast which watereth Florida, Noua Hispania, Iucatan, [etc.].
1631. Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 597. I saw the remaines of a Monasterie, pleasantly watered about with seuerall streames.
1753. Hanway, Trav., VII. xcviii. (1762), I. 457. It [the city] is watered by the Leina.
5. To water (something) with one’s tears: to make wet or moist with copious and continued weeping; to shed tears upon or over. Chiefly hyperbolical or fig. Obs. or arch.
a. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 147. He [ðe prophete] sade: Ich scal watrien min bedd mid mine teares.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. vi. 7. With my teres my bedding I shal watrin.
1535. Coverdale, Luke vii. 38. She … beganne to water his fete with teares.
1634. Heywood, Maidendh. well lost, I. B 2 b. Each step I treade I’le water with a teare.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 1090. What better can we do, then … there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears Watering the ground.
1675. J. Owen, Indwelling Sin, viii. (1732), 93. If it teach us to water a free Pardon with Tears,… it is Divine.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 113. [He] plentifully watered the ground with his tears as he passed. Ibid., 119. Often have we watered the good man’s memory with our tears.
1779. Mirror, No. 44, ¶ 8. La Roche threw his arms round his neck, and watered it with his tears.
1832. Tennyson, Œnone, 230. Hath he not sworn his love a thousand times … Seal’d it with kisses? water’d it with tears?
† b. Said of the tears. Obs.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 177. And indeed the teares liue in an Onion, that should water this sorrow.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. viii. ‘No, hate me not,’ said Mrs. Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears that watered them.
† c. Phrases. To water one’s eyes, also jocularly to water one’s plants: to shed tears, to weep. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8039. Bresaid … With myche weping & waile, waterid hir ene.
c. 1450. Towneley Myst., xxii. 331. For sorow I water both myn eeyn.
a. 1562. G. Cavendish, Wolsey (1893), 127. Whiche words caused my Lord of Wyltshere to water his eyes.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales, 125 b. Which when Symona had beheld, She watred straight her eyes.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 266. When he read the chronicle of Alexander the greate, he could not forbeare to water his plantes [L. non tenuit lachrymas].
1590. Lodge, Rosalynde (1592), O 2. Water not thy plants, Phoebe, for I do pity thy plaints, nor seek not to discouer thy loues in teares.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXX. xv. 750. Masanissa, whiles he heard these words … began to water his plants [L. lacrimæ obortæ].
1724. Swift, Acc. Wood’s Exec., Misc. (1735), V. 314. Bodice-maker. I’ll lace his Sides. Gardener. I’ll make him water his Plants.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), s.v. Plants, ‘To water one’s plants,’ to shed tears.
† 6. To soak in or with water, to steep in a liquor; also, to soften by soaking, macerate. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxiv. (1495), 641. One sayth that beenes grow the sooner … yf they ben watryd in pysse thre dayes or they be sowen.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 43. Nym Milwel or lenge, þat is wel y-wateryd.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 795. With ficchis flour ywattrid wel biforn, Let modle al this seed.
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 8. § 1. No person … shall sell … any Manner Woollen Cloths, called Broad Cloths, unless the same Cloth be before fully watered.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, iii. (1870), 236. Also, nygh to the place let nother flaxe nor hempe be watered.
1556. Withals, Dict. (1562), 47. Macero, to water fisshe or flesshe.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 10 b. A Hopper … serueth to conuey downe the Malt, after it is watred vnto the hearecloth, where it is dryed.
1611. in Trans. Exeter Dioc. Archit. Soc., Ser. II. (1867), I. 399. Item to a man to water the reed,… i s.
1655. Walton, Angler, I. xxi. (1661), 246. Which is so much of the strength of the Line lost for want of first watering it, and then re-twisting it.
1675. Hannah Woolley, Gentlew. Comp., 123. Lay them [collars of brawn] a-soaking in fair water; be sure that they be watered two days before you bind them up.
† b. To water out: to free from salt by soaking in water. Obs.
1683. Pettus, Fleta Min., V. viii. 333. When the Salt is to be put over the Ashes,… it must be well watered out [orig. G. ausswässern] that the red bottom may not be very salty.
† c. To wash down (solid food) with liquor.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Great Eater of Kent, Wks. I. 144/2. Indeed he is no drunkard,… for one Pinte of Beere or Ale is enough to wash downe a Hog, or water a Sheepe with him.
d. To sprinkle or drench (a road, pavement, etc.) with water, in order to lay the dust.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 260. Their Inhabitants had water’d the Streets, which being not pav’d,… the dust had otherwise … annoy’d us.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Streets—Morning. The apprentice, who pauses every other minute from his task of sweeping out the shop and watering the pavement in front of it.
1861. Mrs. H. Wood, East Lynne, III. xxii. Afy, lifting her capacious dress, for the streets had just been watered, minced off.
1872. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 359. As American railroads are … liable, in sandy regions, to be enveloped in unbearable clouds of dust, track sprinklers are frequently employed to water them.
1885. Law Rep., 14 Q. B. D. 891. He was directed by the inspector … to water certain streets.
e. Mil. To pour shell-fire upon. Said also of shell-fire. [So Fr. arroser, G. bewässern.]
1915. J. Buchan, Nelson’s Hist. War, III. xxi. 89. Thereupon von Hindenburg attempted to ‘prepare’ a passage by a great bombardment—high angle shell fire which should ‘water’ the enemy’s position. Ibid., VII. lii. 106. The Germans were closing in on both sides and ‘watering’ the whole hinterland with their fire.
f. To sprinkle or drench (a material) with water in order to moisten it or with a solution to impregnate it. Also with down.
1474. Coventry Leet Bk., 397. Nother that he water nother chaunge no mannes corne to geve hym the wers for the better.
1786. in J. Lloyd, Old South Wales Iron Works (1906), 35. To take … Water issuing from the said veins of Coal for the purpose of watering their Coaks and Coakyards at Pendarren Furnace.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 562. The cloth is exposed for a few days to the open air in the field, and frequently watered, to remove every trace of the acids.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 408/1. [Brick] The clay and ashes thus mixed together are ‘watered down,’ by water being thrown over them with a wooden scoop.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1255. Spreading them [tobacco leaves] in a heap upon a stone pavement, watering each layer in succession, with a solution … called sauce.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 441. In hot weather the [milk] can is covered with a textile wrapper which is watered with a fine sprinkler before the train starts.
g. To saturate (the clothing or) the clothing of (a person) with moisture.
1754. A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 71, ¶ 3. Producing a Squirt, he began to let fly at me in such a Manner, that I was soon pretty well watered from Head to Foot.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, xviii. A plenteous sweat burst through my skin, and watered my clothes through and through.
h. To put water into. (See quots.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Water his hole. A saying used when the cable is up and down, to encourage the men to heave heartily, and raise the shank of the anchor so that the water may get down by the shank, and relieve the anchor of the superincumbent mud.
1878. E. Schiller’s Technol. Dict., s.v., To Water a vessel on the stocks (Ship-b.) Ein Schiff wässern oder vollpumpen. Abreuver un bâtiment.
i. To treat hydropathically. ? nonce-use.
1854. Keble, in J. T. Coleridge, Mem. (1869), 376. He is being watered at Malvern, I hope successfully.
j. Phrase. To water one’s clay, to take liquid refreshment. (Cf. phrases in CLAY sb. 4 b.)
1769. Goldsm., Ess., v. Old women should water their clay a little now and then; and now to your story.
7. To add water to as a diluent or solvent, thereby increasing the bulk and reducing the strength.
a. To dilute (wine, strong liquor, milk, tea) with water.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, VI. 255. He wolde drynke a litel wyne i-watred [v.r. ywatert]. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxxv. (1495), 725. Redde wyne that is full red as blood is moost stronge and nedyth therefore to be ryghte wel watred.
1605. Erondelle, Fr. Gard., M 1 b. If I make any mixture, I do be-wine ye water, and not water ye wine.
1850. H. Melville, White Jacket, I. xliii. 278. He pronounces his grog basely watered.
1865. Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle, Northwest Passage by Land, v. (1867), 73. We … sent off to him a very small quantity [of rum] well watered.
1865. G. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, viii. They sold milk. And if any customer had accused her of watering it, Mrs. Bruce’s best answer would have been [etc.].
1897. Bram Stoker, Dracula, xxi. (1912), 301. It was like tea after the teapot had been watered.
1902. Snaith, Wayfarers, xvi. Tea twice watered with a good deal of sugar in it.
b. fig.
1871. Ruskin, Fors Clav., vii. 15. The knowledge made up for sale is apt to be watered and dusted.
1887. Lowell, Old Eng. Dramatists (1892), 91. But it is not true that the sense is expanded, if by that we are to understand that Chapman watered his thought to make it fill up.
1906. Times Lit. Suppl., 2 Nov., 370/2. The book is full of quotations…. Indeed much of it is just these writers watered.
c. Water down. (a) lit. To reduce the strength of (liquor) by dilution. (b) To weaken the force or strength of (language) by addition or alteration. (c) To reduce in efficacy or potency.
(a) Mod. This whisky is very much watered down.
(b) 1850. Edin. Rev., July, 179. One or two of the recent translations…, while adhering closely to the sense, and, in some degree, to the form of the original, may yet be fairly accused of watering down Æschylus.
1856. J. W. Warter, in Lett. Southey, Pref. 8. As to Southey’s opinions, my business, in the selection of these letters, was, clearly, not to water them down,… but rather to leave them patent to the world in their undisguised reality.
1889. Spectator, 9 Nov., 623/2. The Bishop would have done better not to water down his manly protest against the overstrained moralists.
1899. J. A. Doyle, in Eng. Hist. Rev., July, 597. They watered down their political sentiments to the standard which they supposed would suit their hearers.
(c) 1879. Froude, Cæsar, iii. 29. Still less had the Roman citizens an inclination to share their privileges with Samnites and Etruscans, and see the value of their votes watered down.
1919. W. Crooke, in Man, XIX. 23. In some cases the ordeal [by fire] has been so watered down that the risk to life or limb is merely nominal.
† d. U.S. slang. To pack (a jury). Obs.
1792. J. Belknap, Hist. New-Hampshire, III. 256. In the administration of justice, frequent complaints were made of partiality…. The practice of watering the jury was familiarly known to those persons who had business in the Law.
e. Comm. To increase in nominal amount (the stock or capital of a trading company) by the creation of fictitious stock. Also with up.
1870. Tribune (N. Y.), 17 Dec., in Schele de Vere, Americanisms (1872), 359. In two years the capitals of twenty-eight Northern railroads have been watered to the extent of nearly two hundred millions.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 July, 5/1. The new capital was raised at heavy premiums, and therefore does not ‘water’ the original shares strictly speaking.
1883. Manch. Guard., 15 Oct., 5/5. The decision … gives unlimited encouragement to the entirely vicious practice of ‘watering’ stock.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 6 April, 3/1. Considering the vast extent to which capital has been ‘watered up’ in transfer to joint-stock companies.
† 8. = WASH v. 9 c. Also to water over. lit. and fig. Obs. rare.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. to J. Gordon, Lett. (1664), 248. Yet all these are but like gold in clink and colour and watered brass and base mettall. Ibid. (1637), Lett. to Lady Kenmure, 17 June. Since I must have chains, He would put golden chains on me, watered over with many consolations.
9. To produce a moiré or wavy lustrous finish on (silk or other textile fabrics) by sprinkling them with water and passing them through a calender. Cf. WATERED ppl. a. 5.
c. 1450. Maitl. Club Misc., III. 199. Ane claith of bukram watteryt with letteris of gold.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1621), 1326. Five pieces of silke, five of damaske, five of silke watered.
1684. Patent Office, No. 241. A new way of Beautifying severall sorts of Cloath … and thereby Watering, Damasking and Flowering the same.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 80. 2/2. No two pieces were ever water’d alike.
1745. R. Pococke, Descr. East, II. I. viii. 125. These things [silks and cottons] are watered, which very much adds to their beauty.
1791. W. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. I. III. x. 295. The calender, under which stuffs are passed to water them.
1837. Hood, Drinking Song, ii. We water roads, horses, silks, ribands, bank-paper.
† b. To represent (a material) as watered in painting. Obs. rare–1.
1733. School of Miniature, 29. When you would water a Stuff of any sort, you must wave it with lighter or darker Colours, according as what you are upon is Light or Shade.
† c. transf. To give a specious appearance to (defective or inferior goods). Also in fig. context.
1646. W. Jenkyn, Reformation’s Remora, 18. Rotten stuffs will not be vendible without watering, nor rotten courses without excuses.
1663. J. Spencer, Prodigies (1665), 68. The pretty Allegories and Allusions of which Discourse (but the watering of weak and worthless stuff) might possibly shew not unhandsomly in an Oration, but are too airy and thin for a Sermon.
10. Lumber-trade. To put (logs) into the water for transport.
1877. Lumberman’s Gaz., 24 May. There have been 257,000,000 feet of logs watered on the various branches of the Muskegon.
II. Intransitive uses.
11. Of the eyes: To fill and run with moisture; to shed water, to flow with tears.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 5023. Her eyȝen watred for gladnesse.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 162. Hongur … wrong him so be þe wombe þat boþe his eȝen watreden.
c. 1400. Beryn, 579. He had such a pose, That both his eyen waterid.
c. 1460. Vrbanitatis, 57, in Babees Bk. To depe in þy cuppe þou may not synke … Leste þy eyen water þere by.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 439. with that wateris myn ene, and welteris doune teris.
1573. L. Lloyd, Pilgr. Princes, 26. We reade that the eies did water to see him, the eares allured to heare him.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 200. Good master Mustard seede…. I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. Ibid. (1593), 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 82. And if thine eyes can water for his death, I giue thee this to drie thy Cheekes withall.
1697. Verdicts conc. Virgil & Homer, iv. 12. His Eyes water and shed some drops of Tears.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 72. When a person walks out in that severe weather, the cold makes the eyes water.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xlix. The smoke of the pipe … got into the Captain’s eyes, and made them blink and water.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, iv. His eye watered and sparkled, and before he sat down I observed him to sway back and forth. No doubt, he had been supping liberally.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 102. The eyes water, the sclerotic is injected.
b. Of a person: To secrete and shed tears († with eye or at the eyes). Also, of tears, to gather in the eyes. rare.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 593/14. Lippo, to watery with ye.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 91. Her tears stood watering in her eye.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxvi. The Major sat gurgling in the throat and watering at the eyes.
12. Of the mouth: To secrete abundant saliva in the anticipation of appetizing food or delicacies. Similarly of the teeth (obs. exc. Sc. ?); also rarely of † the ‘chops,’ † the lips. (See also MOUTH sb. 2 c. TOOTH sb. 8 g.)
1530. Palsgr., 772/2. My tethe waters to se yonder fayre appels.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 181. These craftie foxes [sc. cannibals] … beganne to swalowe theyr spettle as their mouthes watered for greedines of theyr pray.
1592. Lyly, Gallathea, V. i. My teeth still watred with hungar.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 298. I obserued passing faire Citrens, which made my mouth euen water vpon them.
a. 1612. Harington, Epigr., II. xiii. (1618), E 3 b. If one names a Iax, your lips doe water.
1628. Mad Pranks Robin Goodfellow (Percy Soc.), 29. A great posset was brought forth: at this Robin Goodfellowes teeth did water.
1639. J. Clarke, Parœm., 39. He sees no green cheese but his mouth waters after it.
1657. H. Crowch, Welsh Traveller, 6. The apples did so lovely looke,… No delaies now could her brook, her shops did so much water.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 137. The sight of company sitting down before a plentiful meal will presently make the mouth water to be doing the like.
1771. Fielding, Intrig. Chambermaid, I. v. Wks. II. 349. Let. He is this day to give a grand entertainment…. Rak. My chops begin to water.
1850. C. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, i. The canine mother … was sneaking wolfishly to the back of my legs,… her white teeth watering for a snatch.
1854. Surtees, Handley Cr., li. (1901), II. 80. All the delicacies of the season in short, that make one’s mouth water to write.
1876. Ruskin, Hortus Inclusus (1887), 42. My mouth’s watering so for that Thwaite Currant jelly, you can’t think.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 57/2. The dog’s mouth waters only at the sight of food, but the gourmand’s mouth will also water at the thought of it.
1899. G. Greig, Logie o’ Buchan, ii. 29. Here she pointed to the apples, while Jockie’s eyes sparkled and his teeth watered.
b. fig.
a. 1575. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden No. 29), 303. There teethe watering at other men’s goods.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 503. His teeth … watred after this treasure.
1608. Shaks., Per., IV. ii. 108. There was a Spaniards mouth watred, and he went to bed to her verie description.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, III. II. 256. Whose teeth water’d at the Papacy.
1720. De Foe, Hist. D. Campbell, iv. 68. [She would] bribe him … to write down the Name of a Young Scotch Peer … that her Mouth watered after.
1841. S. Warren, Ten Thou., I. viii. Huckaback, smiling … and chinking some money in his trowsers pocket. Titmouse heard it, and (as the phrase is) his teeth watered.
1883. E. Pennell-Elmhirst, Cream Leicestersh., 424. Every mouth watering at the sight of the sweet country.
13. Of a ship, ship’s company, etc.: To take on board a store of fresh water.
1557. W. Towrson, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 113. Wee tolde them that we had not watered.
1611. W. Adams, Lett., in Rundall, Mem. Japon (Hakl. Soc.), 19. But, for refreshing of our men we waited, watering and taking in of wood.
1666. Lond. Gaz., No. 97/3. The Armada is certainly come into Cadiz, some say to water.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. v. 45. The French … usually wooded and watered in Bon Port. Ibid., I. ix. 91. A commodious place for ships to wood and water at.
1787. J. White, Jrnl. Voy. N. S. Wales (1790), 13. We … gained permission to water, and procure such refreshments as the island [Teneriffe] afforded.
1839. Marryat, Phant. Ship, xxi. The Utrecht … watered, and proceeded on her voyage.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Dis., xviii. 306. The recurrence of epidemics of dysentery in the crews of ships which have watered at polluted sources.
14. To drink water; to obtain water to drink.
1607. Dekker & Webster, Westward Hoe, II. i. C. By Hipocrene I sweare, (which was a certain Well where all the Muses watered).
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. iv. 13. When some young Thessalians on horsebacke were beheld a farre off, while their horses watered, they were conceived … to be but one animall.
1839. Lady Lytton, Cheveley (ed. 2), III. ii. 54. In the back-ground of the picture cattle were watering in a lake.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xix. In the event of a dry season … the cattle habitually watering there would … betake themselves to the ‘frontage.’
15. To undergo hydropathic treatment. (Cf. WATERER 5, WATERING vbl. sb. 12.)
1868. A. Dawson, Rambling Recoll., 42. He annually watered at Pitcaithly to ward off rheumatism.
† 16. To urinate. Obs. rare.
1626. B. Jonson, Staple of N., IV. i. What shal’s doe with our selues, while the women water? and the Fidlers eat?
1717. Prior, Alma, II. 500. Pleas’d with her Punch, the Gallant Soul First drank, then water’d in the Bowl.
17. Of a retriever: To take to the water.
1885. Bazaar Exch. & M., 30 March, 1260/1. Handsome retriever bitch,… will water and retrieve well.
