drinkwater

From Middle English drinkwater (attested as a nickname), equivalent to drink +‎ water. Compare Saterland Frisian Drinkwoater (“drinkwater”), West Frisian drinkwetter (“drinkwater”), Dutch drinkwater (“drinkwater”), German Low German Drinkwater (“drinkwater”), German Trinkwasser (“drinkwater”).

drinkwater (uncountable)

1. Potable water; water intended for drinking
   • 1905, Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Colonial Secretary's Dept. Local Government and Health Branch, Reports:

     In very dry seasons some drinkwater is brought from wells dug in the bed of the river, about half-an hour from the village.

   • 1916, McClure's Magazine - Volume 47:

     “I'll come back and bring you some drinkwater," he said.

• (potable water): drinking water

drinkwater (not comparable)

1. (of a place) Small, rural, and insignificant.
   • 1972, Barry Brissman, Swing low, page 60:

     And for a moment it seemed that everything would be all right, that we were traveling back in time to that idyllic farm near a drinkwater town in Iowa, back to my boyhood, and that Mina would always smile up at me from her bed.

   • 2014, Richard Hoyt, Decoys: A John Denson Mystery, →ISBN, page 50:

     I'm surprised they have that kind of thing in a drinkwater place like this.

   • 2016, Michael Kahmann, A Contract For Ethan:

     “[...] Heard she killed two of them Jenson brothers in some drinkwater town in Kansas?”

• (insignificant): backwater, podunk, jerkwater

Compound of drinken +‎ water.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdriŋkˌʋaː.tər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: drink‧wa‧ter

drinkwater n (plural drinkwateren or drinkwaters, diminutive drinkwatertje n)

1. drinking water

• drinkwatervoorziening