Sewer
/ˈsuːər/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn underground pipe that carries waste water away.
Extra definitions
nounA sewage-removal system.
nounA person or machine that sews.
nounA pipe or channel, or system of pipes or channels, used to remove human waste and to provide drainage.
Sentence Examples
Rainwater flowed into the sewer.
The city repaired the sewer.
A skilled sewer made the costume.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
From Middle English sewer, seuer, from Anglo-Norman sewere (“water-course”), from Old French sewiere (“overflow channel for a fishpond”), from Vulgar Latin *exaquāria (“drain for carrying water off”), from Latin ex (“out of, from”) + aquāria (“of or pertaining to waters”) or from a root *exaquāre.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.”
— 2014 June 14, “It’s a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Jun 2014:
“While the Saxon was plunged in these painful reflections, the door of their prison opened, and gave entrance to a sewer, holding his white rod of office.”
— 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 116–117:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Rainwater flowed into the ____.