geyser

English

Wikipedia

Strokkur, an Icelandic geyser.

Etymology

From around 1755-1765, from the Icelandic proper name Geysir, which means and is the name of a hot spring in Iceland (Geysir’s English Wikipedia article). The word geysir literally means gusher, derived from the Icelandic verb geysa (“to gush”), descended from Old Norse geysa (“to gush”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɡaɪzə/, /ˈɡiːzə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɡaɪzɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪzə(r) or Rhymes: -iːzə(r)
• Homophones: guiser, geezer

Noun

geyser (plural geysers)

1. (planetology, geology, volcanology) A boiling natural spring which throws forth at frequent intervals jets of water, mud etc., driven up by the expansive power of steam.
2. (UK, archaic) An instantaneous, and often dangerous, hot water heater using hot steam.
   • 1902. William Paton Buchan, Plumbing: A Text-book to the Practice of the Art Or Craft of the Plumber:

     Where a Geyser or hot-water heater is used it is a good and wise precaution to see that the bath-room, &c., when it is used is well ventilated.

   • 1998, Gordon S Riess, Confessions of a Corporate Centurion: Tales of International Adventures

     Water was heated either on the gas stove, or on a wall mounted gas-fired "geyser" heater.

   • 2002, Alaine Polcz, One woman in the war: Hungary, 1944-1945:

     It was here I saw a geyser gas water heater in a bathroom for the first time. (I was afraid of it).

3. (South Africa) A domestic water boiler.

Derived terms

• geyserite

Translations

boiling spring

• Arabic: سخان (ar) (sakhkhaan) m
• Basque: geiser (eu)
• Catalan: guèiser (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 間歇泉 (cmn), 间歇泉 (cmn) (jiànxiēquán)

• Czech: gejzír (cs) m
• Danish: gejser (da)
• Dutch: geiser (nl) m
• Esperanto: gejsero (eo)
• Estonian: geiser (et)
• Finnish: geysir (fi)
• French: geyser (fr) m
• German: Geysir (de) m
• Greek: θερμοπίδακας (el) (thermopídakas) 
• Hebrew: גייזר (he)
• Hindi: उष्णोत्स (hi) (uṣṇots)
• Hungarian: gejzír (hu)
• Icelandic: goshver (is) m
• Indonesian: geyser (id)
• Italian: geyser (it) m
• Japanese: 間欠泉 (ja) (かんけつせん, kanketsusen)
• Korean: 간헐천 (ko) (ganheolcheon) (間歇泉 (ko))

• Latvian: geizers (lv)
• Lithuanian: geizeris (lt)
• Malay: geiser (ms)
• Maori: waiariki (mi)
• Norwegian: geysir (no)
• Occitan: gueisèr (oc) m
• Polish: gejzer (pl) m
• Portuguese: géiser (pt) m, gêiser (pt) m
• Romanian: gheizer (ro) n
• Russian: гейзер (ru) (géjzer) m 
• Serbo-Croatian: гејзир (sh) m
• Slovak: gejzír (sk) m
• Slovene: gejzir (sl) m
• Spanish: géiser (es) m
• Swahili: gaiza (sw)
• Swedish: gejser (sv) c
• Thai: ไกเซอร์ (th)
• Turkish: kaynaç (tr), gayzer (tr)
• Ukrainian: гейзер (uk) (héjzer) m 
• Vietnamese: mạch nước phun (vi)
• Volapük: gäysär (vo)

archaic: water heater

• Dutch: geiser (nl) m, geizer (nl) m

A domestic water boiler

• Russian: водонагреватель (ru) (vodonagrevátel’) m , бойлер (ru) (bójler) m 

Anagrams

• eygres, Sergey