Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A meadow capable of being kept in a state of fertility by being overflowed with water at certain seasons from some adjoining stream.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An area of
grassland , besides ariver , that is subject to periodicflooding
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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But come now, let us be doing, and begin to quarter this little land as the kestrel doth the water-meadow; and leave we our armour, lest we weary us, for we shall have no need for hard strokes.
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Well, I had a hundred poods for sale; the women mowed it on the water-meadow.
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She had been carried off in the water-meadow by a horrible monster, who wanted to make her marry him by force, and had kept her a prisoner all these years because she would not submit to his will.
The Grey Fairy Book 2003
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One day the eldest was walking in a water-meadow, when she saw a pink growing in the stream.
The Grey Fairy Book 2003
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Everything was growing, and daily the picture was fuller and brighter till the desert became like a rank water-meadow.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom Thomas Edward 2003
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Hugh's horse, intolerant of most riders except his master, condescended to carry this one along the headland and down into the water-meadow without resentment.
The Potter's Field Peters, Ellis, 1913-1995 1989
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Frederickson had taken the last watch and his piquets were set double-strength about the margins of the water-meadow where the small force had bivouacked.
Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987
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And we died out there too — "he pointed towards the water-meadow" — before there ever were any Ironsides in their pretty uniforms.
War Game Price, Anthony 1976
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Mostly they were quiet now, engrossed in the final act of the tragedy which was about to take place in the bright sunshine of the water-meadow where the London pikemen and the wreckage of their brother regiments were huddled, waiting for the last great Royalist assault.
War Game Price, Anthony 1976
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The answering cry from the water-meadow, God our strength, rang hollow.
War Game Price, Anthony 1976
treeseed commented on the word water-meadow
A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were common in Italy, Switzerland, and England (from 1523) but working water-meadows have now largely disappeared.
_Wikipedia
"Or was it such a salmon stream as I trust you will see among the Hampshire water-meadows before your hairs are gray, under the wise new fishing laws..."
from Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, 1937
January 29, 2008