Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In agriculture, a deep furrow made for conducting water from ground and keeping it dry; an open drain.
  • To plow or open water-furrows in; drain by means of water-furrows.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make water furrows in.
  • (Agric.) A deep furrow for conducting water from the ground, and keeping the surface soil dry.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Lakes Rutara branch, Kerebe omugelo; Tsonga mugero, mi - "furrow, water-furrow, ditch."

    Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

  • It was put in operation under the direction and supervision of Mr. Hussey himself, upon a field of reclaimed low ground, originally Cypress Swamp, which of course could only be cultivated in beds -- these beds were six feet wide, including the water-furrow between, and were intersected at intervals of about fifty yards by drains, known to us as

    Obed Hussey Who, of All Inventors, Made Bread Cheap Various

  • Brown, furry beetles dashed themselves violently against the windows of the dining-room, where a lamp still burned, and the pneumoras wailed their melancholy love-songs from the willow trees along the water-furrow.

    Kafir Stories Seven Short Stories 1899

  • There was neither adequate provision in this department nor any attempt at proper supervision, the result being that through irregularities, neglect, and defective arrangement the ground on both sides of the water-furrow for six or eight yards was horribly stained and saturated by leakage.

    The Transvaal from Within A Private Record of Public Affairs 1896

  • But -- Ned Hall, there ought to be a water-furrow across this land: it's a nasty, stiff, clayey, dauby bit of ground, and thou and I must fall to, come next Monday -- I beg your pardon, cousin Manning -- and there's old Jem's cottage wants a bit of thatch; you can do that job tomorrow while I am busy. '

    Cousin Phillis Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837

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