WATERCOURSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does watercourse mean? 

• WATERCOURSE (noun)
  The noun WATERCOURSE has 3 senses:

1. natural or artificial channel through which water flows

2. a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth

3. a conduit through which water flows

  Familiarity information: WATERCOURSE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WATERCOURSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Natural or artificial channel through which water flows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("watercourse" is a kind of...):

channel (a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

stream; watercourse

Hypernyms ("watercourse" is a kind of...):

body of water; water (the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean))

Meronyms (parts of "watercourse"):

crossing; ford (a shallow area in a stream that can be forded)

meander (a bend or curve, as in a stream or river)

midstream (the middle of a stream)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "watercourse"):

branch (a stream or river connected to a larger one)

brook; creek (a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river))

headstream (a stream that forms the source of a river)

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

rill; rivulet; run; runnel; streamlet (a small stream)

tidal river; tidal stream; tidewater river; tidewater stream (a stream in which the effects of the tide extend far upstream)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A conduit through which water flows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

watercourse; waterway

Hypernyms ("watercourse" is a kind of...):

way (any artifact consisting of a road or path affording passage from one place to another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "watercourse"):

canal (long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation)

flume (watercourse that consists of an open artificial chute filled with water for power or for carrying logs)

headrace (a waterway that feeds water to a mill or water wheel or turbine)

tailrace (a watercourse that carries water away from a mill or water wheel or turbine)

 Context examples 

He loved to run down dry watercourses, and to creep and spy upon the bird life in the woods.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There is a watercourse across the moor.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The wood was pretty open, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon turned the corner of that hill, and not long after waded to the mid-calf across the watercourse.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would screen me from the enemy’s sentries; but as I crept round the corner of it I walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark waiting for me.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We picked up the track and followed it onward for some distance, but soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we left the watercourse behind us.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)