Adjacent Words

Sewer definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SEW'ER, n. [L. sicco.] A drain or passage to cnvey off waterunder ground; a subterraneous canal, particularly in cities; corruptly pronounced Shore or soer.
SEW'ER, n. An officer who serves up the feast and arranges the dishes. Obs.
SEW'ER, n. One who sews, or uses the needle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water [syn: sewer, sewerage, cloaca]
2: someone who sews; "a sewer of fine gowns"
3: misfortune resulting in lost effort or money; "his career was in the gutter"; "all that work went down the sewer"; "pensions are in the toilet" [syn: gutter, sewer, toilet]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French asseour, literally, seater, from Anglo-French asseer to seat — more at assize Date: 14th century a medieval household officer often of high rank in charge of serving the dishes at table and sometimes of seating and tasting II. noun Date: 14th century one that sews III. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from assewer, essiver to drain, from Vulgar Latin *exaquare, from Latin ex- + aqua water — more at island Date: 15th century an artificial usually subterranean conduit to carry off sewage and sometimes surface water (as from rainfall)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a conduit, usu. underground, for carrying off drainage water and sewage. Phrases and idioms: sewer rat the common brown rat. Etymology: ME f. AF sever(e), ONF se(u)wiere channel to carry off the overflow from a fishpond, ult. f. L ex- out of + aqua water

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sewer Sew"er, n. [OF. sewiere, seuwiere, ultimately fr. L. ex out + a derivative of aqua water; cf. OF. essevour a drain, essever, esseuwer, essiaver, to cause to flow, to drain, to flow, LL. exaquatorium a channel through which water runs off. Cf. Ewer, Aquarium.] A drain or passage to carry off water and filth under ground; a subterraneous channel, particularly in cities.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sewer Sew"er, n. [Cf. OE. assewer, and asseour, OF. asseour, F. asseoir to seat, to set, L. assidere to sit by; ad + sedere to sit (cf. Sit); or cf. OE. sew pottage, sauce, boiled meat, AS. se['a]w juice, Skr. su to press out.] Formerly, an upper servant, or household officer, who set on and removed the dishes at a feast, and who also brought water for the hands of the guests. Then the sewer Poured water from a great and golden ewer, That from their hands to a silver caldron ran. --Chapman.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sewer Sew"er, n. 1. One who sews, or stitches. 2. (Zo["o]l.) A small tortricid moth whose larva sews together the edges of a leaf by means of silk; as, the apple-leaf sewer (Phoxopteris nubeculana)

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sewers) A sewer is a large underground channel that carries waste matter and rain water away, usually to a place where it is treated and made harmless. ...the city's sewer system. ...open sewers. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Drain, subterranean canal.

Moby Thesaurus

Singer, abri, antre, bog, bunker, burrow, cave, cavern, cesspool, cloaca, cloaca maxima, cove, drain, dugout, dump, foxhole, garbage dump, garmentmaker, grot, grotto, gutter, headchute, hole, kennel, lair, marsh, mire, needleman, needler, needlewoman, needleworker, piscina, quagmire, scupper, seamster, seamstress, sempster, septic tank, sewing machine, sink, sluice, sough, subterrane, subway, sump, swamp, tailor, tunnel, warren