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jerkwater. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
jerkwater, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
jerkwater in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
jerkwater you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
US mid-19th century. From jerk (“to move with a sudden movement”) + water. Refers to the need to supply the boilers of steam trains with water. In rural areas and small towns with no water tower, where the train did not stop, this was done by scooping ("jerking") water from a track pan.
Pronunciation
Noun
jerkwater (plural jerkwaters)
- (US, historical) A train on a branch line.
1975 Mar, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana Magazine of History, volume 71, number 1, page 355:[…] by bailing from near streams with buckets, (the brake-man called this operation jerking water) and from this the road gets its name of jerkwater road.
- A jerkwater town.
2016 April 19, Rex Sorgatz, “The Internet Really Has Changed Everything. Here’s the Proof.”, in Wired:Twenty-five miles down the narrow arid highway, there is another town like Napoleon, a little smaller. And then twenty-five miles further, another. This chain of jerkwaters stretches for a lazy afternoon, until you finally encounter a cluster of people that almost resembles a modern civilization, with a movie theater and chain restaurants.
Translations
Adjective
jerkwater (comparative more jerkwater, superlative most jerkwater)
- (US, colloquial, derogatory) Of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, and backward.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, backward
See also