[ad. F. surface (from 16th c.), f. sur- SUR- + face FACE sb., after L. superficiēs: cf. obs. Sp. sobrehaz, Sp. sobrefaz, Pg. sobreface, and SUPERFICE, SUPERFICIE, SUPERFICIES.]
1. The outermost boundary (or one of the boundaries) of any material body, immediately adjacent to the air or empty space, or to another body.
1611. Cotgr., Surface, the surface; the superficies or vpper part.
1662. Evelyn, Sculptura, II. (1906), 8. The Rollers doe universally touch the imediate surfaces of the Table.
1715. trans. Gregory’s Astron. (1726), I. 158. If the contiguous Surfaces were perfectly smooth, there would be no impression of the Bodies upon one another.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 16. The matter must be calcined till it becomes of an orange yellow colour at the surface.
1831. Brewster, Optics, iv. 27. An optical prism … is a solid having two plane surfaces … which are called its refracting surfaces.
1889. Welch, Text Bk. Naval Archit., i. 5. The submerged part of a vessel at rest in still water is subjected to fluid pressure, which acts, at each point, in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the ship at that point.
b. fig., usually denoting that part or aspect of anything that presents itself to a slight or casual mental view, or that is perceived without examination; outward appearance; often in such phrases as on the surface = superficial(ly.
1725. Watts, Logic, I. v. There are some Persons who never arrive at any deep … Knowledge … because they are perpetually fluttering over the Surface of Things.
1781. Cowper, Ep. Lady Austen, 8. Prose answers … all the floating thoughts we find Upon the surface of the mind.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 234. These flashes on the surface are not he.
1855. Paley, Æschylus, Pref. (1861), p. xiii. In such passages … there is … scarcely a word that does not involve … a meaning that lies below the surface.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 75. They may have seen through the real motives of the invitation, but on the surface everything was … honourable.
1888. Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men, II. v. 2. No name more readily rose to the surface of conversation than his.
2. Geom. A magnitude or continuous extent having only two dimensions (length and breadth, without thickness), such as constitutes the boundary of a material body (sense 1) or that between two adjacent portions of space; a superficies.
1658. Phillips, Surface, the same as Superficies.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. s.v., There are Plane Surfaces, and there are Crooked or Curved ones.
1830. Kater & Lardner, Mech., i. 4. The external limits of the magnitude of a body are lines and surfaces.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIII. 303/2. Surfaces of the second degree. This name is given to all those surfaces of which the equation is of the second degree.
1869. Rankine, Machinery & Millwork, 569. A ruled surface is one in which every point is traversed by a straight line lying wholly in the surface.
1887. Cayley, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 668/1. A surface may be regarded as the locus of a doubly infinite system of points.
3. The outermost part of a material body, considered with respect to its form, texture or extent; the uppermost layer; esp. in art or manufacture, an exterior of a particular form or ‘finish.’
1698. Keill, Exam. Th. Earth (1734), 119. It is plain that but one half of the Rays which fall upon the first Surface, would fall upon the second, but one fourth of them upon the third.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 408. It … forms the external coating of calculi, and may be distinguished by its unequal surface.
1831. Brewster, Optics, iv. 35. Then R b will be the ray as refracted by the first surface of the sphere.
1846. Ellis, Elgin Marb., II. 76. A thin surface has been carried away from the whole bas-relief.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Receipts, Ser. I. 2/1. Take the surface off the paper with fine glass-paper.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., II. 122. Such matt or dead surfaces.
1880. Academy, 23 Oct., 299/3. Those who are accustomed to find in the work of this artist [T. N. MacLean] a finish and a perfection of surface rare in the English school.
b. spec. The upper boundary or top of ground or soil, exposed to the air (in Mining, as distinct from underground workings and shafts); the outer (according to ancient ideas, the upper) boundary of the earth.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., ix. 140. With sterne Eolus blasts,… Shee onely ouer-swells the surface of her bank.
1629. Milton, Hymn Nativ., xvii. The aged Earth agast … Shall from the surface to the center shake.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 182. Cucumers along the Surface creep.
1719. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 197. The surface of the quarry.
1796. W. H. Marshall, Rural Econ. W. Eng., II. 4. The surface is exceedingly broken, into sharp ridges.
1832. De la Beche, Geol. Man. (ed. 2), 9. If waters descend from the surface into a mine.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., ix. § 50 (1879), 313. On the Earth’s surface, i.e. at 4,000 miles from its centre.
1878. Argosy, XXV. 430. We parted at surface—he went down the shaft, I went to work further west.
c. The upper boundary or top of a body of water or other liquid.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geogr. Delin., I. ii. (1635), 40. Euery surface of the water is either only plaine, or only round.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 209. Two pots floting upon a pond, or surface of a water with this word, ‘If we knock together, we sink together.’
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 8 Feb. 1645. The water of it is fresh and swete on the surface, but salt at botome.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 184. The wat’ry stores that sleep Beneath the smiling surface of the deep.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xxxix. Tom … dived after me, brought me up again to the surface.
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., 26. When a liquid contained in any vessel is in a state of rest, its surface will be horizontal.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 69. The vapour is derived only from the exposed surface of the liquid.
d. The outside of an animal or plant body, or of any part of it; the outer boundary of the integument; also, the inner boundary of a hollow or tubular part.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. x. 101. Discoloured spots dispersed over the whole surface of the body.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 771. Polypodium. Capsules disposed in distinct circular dots on the under surface of the leaf.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 366. Diseases affecting internal surfaces.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 198. The Teeth are formed … upon the surface of the Mucous membrane of the mouth.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 290. The surface of the style may be either smooth, or covered in various ways with glands and hairs.
e. Fortif. (See quot.)
1702. Milit. Dict. (1704), Surface, is that part of the Exterior side, which is terminated by the Flank, prolong’d or extended, and the Angle of the nearest Bastion.
4. An extent or area of material considered as a subject for operations.
1662. Evelyn, Sculptura, I. v. (1906), 125. A much larger discourse … treating of the practise of Perspective upon irregular Surfaces.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 63. 52. The Canvass is no longer a level, lifeless Surface.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 59. His exuberant pencil was ready at pouring out gods, goddesses, [etc.] over those public surfaces on which the eye never rests long enough to criticize.
1867–72. Burgh, Mod. Marine Engin., 360. To calculate the area of the frictional surfaces.
1869. Rankine, Machinery & Millwork, 571. When the highest … degree of accuracy is required in a plane surface, its form may … be given approximately by the planing machine.
5. Superficial area or extent. † Also in fig. phr. (quot. a 1640).
a. 1640. Jackson, Creed, XI. iv. § 15 (1657), 3341. This Doctrine is so necessarie for manifesting the just measure of their unthankfulnesse which perish, that without This we cannot take so much as a true Surface of it; not so much as the least Dimension of Sin.
1798. Hutton, Course Math. (1807), II. 51. To find the Solidity of a Sphere … Multiply the surface by the diameter, and take 1/4 of the product for the content.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 706. To find the Surface of a Cylindrical Ring.
1871. C. Davies, Metric Syst., I. 12. The unit of surface is a square whose side is ten metres.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 18 March, 4/1. After the ‘pitch’ [of a propeller] the most important detail of design is the ‘surface,’ which is usually taken to be the combined area of all the blades when laid out flat.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. in lit. sense, chiefly locative = pertaining to, existing or occurring on, the surface of something, as surface-action, -crevice, -crust, -deposit, -dressing, friction, layer, -light, ornament, -temperature, etc.; spec. (a) in reference to the surface of the ground (3 b), esp. in Mining, occurring, carried on, etc., at or near the surface, as surface break, cut, dirt, mine, mining, movement, ore, working, works (see also surface-damage in d); of persons, employed in, or in connection with, work at the surface, as surface captain, hand, labo(u)rer, people; also in various connections (Geol., Agric., etc.), as surface bed, earth, heat, manuring, mo(u)ld, peat, product, production, sod, soil, spring, stone, trap, wind; (b) in reference to the surface of water or other fluid (3 c), as surface current, drift, energy, food, motion, ripple, towing (TOWING vbl. sb.1), velocity; (c) Electr., as surface conduction, density, electrification, winding.
1844. Fownes, Man. Elem. Chem., 104. Coal-gas … may be made to exhibit the phenomenon of quiet oxidation under the influence of this remarkable *surface-action [of platinum, etc.].
1879. Encycl. Brit., X. 240/1. Epigene or Surface Action—the changes produced on the superficial parts of the earth.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., 582. *Surface beds and deposits.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 66. *Surface break, the … sinking of the strata reaching to the surface which is consequent on the working of coal by longwall.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., xx. (ed. 3), 202. A *Surface-captain, with assistants, receives the ores raised.
1873. F. Jenkin, Electr. & Magn., Index, *Surface conduction, or creeping on insulators.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., 456. Rain, penetrating the minute *surface-crevices of an exposed rock.
1849. J. Gray, Earth’s Antiquity, ii. 53. The *surface-crust of the Earth.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea (Low), viii. § 391. A *surface current flows north from Behring’s Strait into the Arctic Sea.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Surface Current … Also, fresh water running over salt at the mouths of great rivers.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 215. Little work … has been done except *surface-cuts and holes dug to trace the lode.
1878. Encycl. Brit., VIII. 17/2. Electrical *‘surface density’ … means quantity of electricity on an element of surface divided by the element of surface.
1858. Hoblyn, Dict. Terms Med. (ed. 8), *Surface-deposit, in Electroplating. The operation of depositing a surface of gold or silver upon a foundation of cheaper metal.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 215. The *surface-dirt all contains gold … but no rich silver-ore is found on the surface.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 163. When dung is lodged near the surface, it promotes too rapid a vegetation in the foliage … a circumstance that … circumscribes *surface-dressing very much.
1880. A. R. Wallace, Isl. Life, 279. Ocean-currents and *surface-drifts are … efficient carriers of plants.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 204. Take off the *Surface-earth about an Inch or two deep.
1878. Encycl. Brit., VIII. 66/1. *Surface electrification on insulators. Ibid. (1876), V. 59/1. That part of the energy which depends on the area of the bounding surface of the liquid. We may call this the *surface energy.
1847. Stoddart, Angler’s Comp., 85. March-browns … create, on their appearance, the earliest natural cravings in the fish for *surface food.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 658. The *surface-friction against the thread of the screw.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 681. The roots of the celeriac may be taken up on the approach of frost, and preserved in sand or soil out of the reach of *surface-heat.
1838. Jrnl. Statist. Soc., June, 73. *Surface Labourers … £2 . 6 . 0 . Per Month.
1875. Dawson, Dawn of Life, iv. 85. To deposit the final *surface-layer of its shell.
1879. Rood, Chromatics, vii. 79. In velvet the attempt is made to suppress all *surface-light, and to display only those rays which have penetrated deeply among the fibres, and have become highly coloured.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 105. We find *surface-manuring best for the coffee-tree.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 124. The branches of Rock Creek … have furnished paying *surface-mines.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 596. The harrow … renders the baked *surface-mould fine and powdery.
1886. A. Winchell, Walks Geol. Field, 103. The *surface-movement of earthquake-waves.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 146. The *surface-ore was so favorable and the vein so perfect.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), II. 86. Ornaments in very slight relief usually known as *surface ornaments.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 23. Light spongy *surface-peat.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., xv. 565. Two captains or agents, with a few miners and *surface-people.
1897. Geikie, Anc. Volcanoes Gt. Brit., I. 27. The *surface-products of volcanic action.
1709. T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmoreld., vii. 48. The *Surface-Productions … peculiar to the Mountains, Heaths, or Dales.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 1. The *surface ripples raised by the passing breeze.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 160. The *surface sods should be carefully pared off.
1709. T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmoreld., xii. 70. The greatest Rains seldom moisten the Earth deeper than the *Surface-Soil.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 649. To unite the stirring of the subsoil with the turning of the surface soil.
1832. De la Beche, Geol. Man. (ed. 2), 13. The temperature of *surface-springs.
1851. Mantell, Petrifactions, iii. § 5. 289. Chiselling away the *surface stone.
1875. Encycl. Brit., II. 337/2. The … Neolithic Period, or, as it has been sometimes called, the Surface-Stone Period.
1893. A. S. Eccles, Sciatica, 19. The *surface-temperature of the affected limb.
1885. Science, 13 March, 213/1. A steam-launch in which to make *surface-towings.
1887. [see TOWING vbl. sb.1].
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 715/2. A *surface-trap or gully outside the house.
1850. W. R. Birt, Hurricane Guide, 13. Which to the various countries over which they pass appear as *surface-winds.
1902. Encycl. Brit., XXVII. 583/2. For multipolar armatures with two or more layers of inductors, *‘surface’ or ‘barrel’ winding is now extensively used.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., xv. 564. There are few regularly planned *surface-works.
b. attrib. in fig. sense (see 1 b), often equivalent to an adj. = superficial.
1828. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 207. No vain surface-logic detains him.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts, i. With a quaint surface-sourness of address, and a tone of dry sarcasm in his talk.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Prof. Breakf.-t., vi. (Paterson), 122. Good-breeding is Surface-Christianity.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel, i. 43. The slight variations between the Aramaic of Daniel and Ezra are in conformity with their slight difference in age. But these are petty surface-questions.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., viii. (1878), 129. I had only a certain surface-knowledge.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., vi. 102. Skimming a mere surface comprehension of that which has a profound meaning.
1905. F. Young, Sands of Pleasure, II. iv. I always keep to mere acquaintance and surface friendships with such people.
c. Comb. with pples., adjs., vbs., agent-nouns, and nouns of action: (a) locative (= ‘on the surface’), as surface-deposited, -dressed, -dry, -dwelling, -feeding, -scratched adjs.; surface-feed, -grip (GRIP v.2), -hoe vbs.; surface-dweller, -feeder; (b) objective, as surface-skimmer; surface-tapping.
1898. F. Davis, Romano-Brit. City of Silchester, 16. The subsidence … of the *surface-deposited material.
1892. J. Anderson, in J. R. Allen, Early Chr. Monum. Scot. (1903), I. p. vi. The stone … is not squared or *surface-dressed.
1878. Abney, Photogr., xxi. 151. This prevents the chance of any of the prints getting *surface-dry.
1880. A. R. Wallace, Isl. Life, 89. It was long thought that they were *surface-dwellers only.
1888. H. Woodward, Guide Fossil Fishes Brit. Mus. (ed. 2), 43. The living *surface-dwelling genera Myripristis and Holocentrum.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 5 Jan., 3/3. Widgeons are entirely surface-feeding ducks, and like most *surface-feeders they sleep out at sea by day.
1902. Millais (title), The Natural History of the British *Surface-Feeding Ducks.
1851. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. II. 293. The fields are regularly *surface-gripped as soon as the wheat is sown.
1885. Garden, 20 June, 572/3. *Surface-hoed and heeled up latest Potatoes.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 17. Undrained, *surface-scratched fields, so numerous in the defective cultivation of the present day.
1841. Miall, in Nonconf., I. 9. The summer day politicians…, the ephemeral *surface skimmers.
1868. Eclectic Rev., Aug., 114. The mere surface-skimmer of books will never perceive the profound wisdom embedded in these works.
1855. Dickens, Dorrit, II. xx. A knocker produced a dead flat *surface-tapping.
d. Special comb.: surface-car U.S., a tram-car running on a track level with the surface of the ground, as distinct from an elevated or underground track; surface caterpillar = surface-grub; surface-chuck (see quot.); surface-coated a., (of paper or cardboard) having a specially finished surface; surface-colo(u)r, color exhibited, in the case of certain substances, by the light reflected from the surface; surface condensation, condensation of steam by a surface-condenser; surface-condenser, in a steam-engine, a condenser in which exhaust-steam is condensed by contact with cold metallic surfaces; surface-contact, (a) contact of surfaces; (b) applied attrib. to a system of electric traction in which the current is conveyed to the cars through conductors on the surface of the roadway; surface-crossing, a level crossing on a railway; surface-damage, damage done to the surface of the ground by mining operations; pl. compensation payable for this; see also quot. 1886; surface-drain Agric., a drain cut in the surface of the ground; so surface-drainage, -draining; surface-gauge (see quot.); surface-grinder, surface-grinding machine, a machine for grinding something to a perfectly plane surface; surface-grub, the larva of various moths, which live just beneath the surface of the soil; a CUTWORM; surface-integral Math., an integral taken over the whole area of a surface; surface paper, (photographic or printing) paper made with a special surface on one side; surface-plane, a form of machine for planing timber; also, a carpenter’s plane for planing a flat surface; surface-planer = prec.; so surface planing (also attrib.); surface-plate, (a) a plate or flat bar of iron fixed on the upper surface of a rail on a railway; (b) an iron plate for testing the accuracy of a flat surface; surface-printing, printing from a raised surface (as distinguished from an incised plate), as from ordinary type, or (in calico-printing) from wooden rollers cut in relief; so surface-printed a.; surface process, a process of surface-printing; surface-rib Arch., a rib applied to the surface of vaulting merely for ornament; surface-road U.S., a railroad on the surface of the ground, as distinct from an elevated or underground railroad; surface-roller (see quot., and cf. surface-printing above); surface-tension Physics, the tension of the surface-film of a liquid, due to the cohesion of its particles; surface-water, (a) water that collects on the surface of the ground; (b) the surface layer of a body of water; surface-worm = surface-grub. See also SURFACEMAN.
1890. N. Y. Tribune, 11 May (Cent. Dict.). The Americanisms one hears upon the front platforms of New-York *surface cars.
1909. Eliz. L. Banks, Myst. F. Farrington, 103. She took a surface car to help her on her way.
1852. *Surface caterpillar [see surface-grub below].
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, *Surface Chuck, a chuck used for the purpose of holding any flat material, while the surface of it is turned flat and even.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 23 Jan., 1/3. A firm interested in *‘surface-coated boards.’
1899. W. Watson, Text-bk. Physics, § 387. 556. In the case of the bodies referred to … as showing *surface colour, light of a particular colour seems unable to penetrate at all, and is therefore reflected, so that the transmitted light will be without this colour.
1867–72. Burgh, Mod. Marine Engin., 253. As far back as the year 1832 Mr. Hall … proved … that *surface condensation was … economical.
1863. J. Jack, in Proc. Inst. Mech. Engin., 150 (title), Effects of *Surface Condensers on Steam Boilers.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 663. Those nuts … which are … used … for the regulating screws of slides and general machinery, are made much thicker…; this greatly increases their *surface-contact, and durability.
1898. S. P. Thompson, in Westm. Gaz., 13 Oct., 2/3. Surface-contact systems … are much less costly than the underground conduit, and equally dispense with the unsightly overhead wires.
1841. Penny Cycl., XIX. 251/1. When the Liverpool and Manchester line was projected,… no danger was anticipated from such intersections, which are called *surface-crossings.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., April, 202. Liberty of working minerals … upon paying *surface-damages.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., Surface damage, damage done to the surface of the ground in consequence of mining operations.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 66. Surface damages, ground occupied and damaged by colliery operations.
1833. Ridgemont Farm Rep., 132, in Libr. Usef. Kn., Husb., III. Forming the *surface-drains (‘grips’) across the ridges.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 824. *Surface Drainage.
1799. View Agric. Lincoln., 72. A *surface-draining plough.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 13. In the surface-draining of land, different sorts of ploughs are in use in different places.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Surface-gage, an implement for testing the accuracy of plane surfaces. Ibid. (1884), Suppl. 875. Thomson’s *surface grinder … has … driving arrangements, constructed to grind and buff the surfaces of work too large or heavy to be taken to the ordinary grinding machines. Ibid., Thomson, Sterne, & Co.’s … *Surface Grinding Machine.
1852. G. W. Johnson, Cottage Gard. Dict., *Surface Grubs, or caterpillars, are the larvæ of several species of … Night Moths.
1875. Cayley, Math. Papers, IX. 321. On the Prepotential *Surface-integral.
1878. W. K. Clifford, Dynamic, III. 201. The surface-integral of the spin over any closed surface is zero.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 60. Use a paper which is white on one side…. This paper can be bought at a stationer’s under the name of *surface paper.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Surface-plane (Wood-working), a form of planing-machine for truing and smoothing the surface of an object run beneath the rotary cutter on the bed of the planer.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 131. *Surface planers, that cut away a constant amount of wood, gauged from the surface that is planed. Ibid. The under cylinder of a double surfacing machine, or bottom cylinders generally, are examples of *surface planing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2457. A surface-planing machine.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 652. At every eighteen inches or two feet of the length of this *surface-plate, a tenon is firmly welded or riveted.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 865. The operator must be provided with the means of testing the progressive advance of the work, he should therefore possess a true straight-edge, and a true surface-plate.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2457. Books, newspapers, woodcuts, and lithographs are all *surface-printed.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 266/1. The Production of coloured Impressions on Paper,… by *Surface Printing.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 219. Another modification of cylinder printing, is that with wooden rollers cut in relief: it is called surface printing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2458. The rose-engine work around the portrait, if printed from by the *surface-process [etc.].
1835. R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, vii. 82. These three classes of ribs may be designated as Groin Ribs, Ridge Ribs, and *Surface Ribs.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Surface-roller, the engraved cylinder used in calico-printing.
1876. Encycl. Brit., V. 57/1. In 1804 Thomas Young founded the theory of capillary phenomena on the principle of *surface-tension.
1793. [Earl Dundonald], Descr. Estate of Culross, 21. Blue clay, forming a … barrier against *surface water.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., 461. The surface-water, when in excess, penetrates into the subsoil.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea (Low), ix. § 430. The surface-water of Loch Lomond.
1894. Baring-Gould, Deserts S. France, I. 7. The wells are mere reservoirs of surface water.
