sewer

English

WOTD – 30 March 2016

Etymology 1

Inside an underground sewer (etymology 1)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: so͞o'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uːə/
• (General American) enPR: so͞oər, IPA^(key): /ˈsuɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Homophone: suer
• Rhymes: -uːə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: sew‧er

Noun

sewer (plural sewers)

1. A pipe or system of pipes used to remove human waste and to provide drainage.
   • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 411, number 8891:

     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.

Derived terms

• car sewer
• common sewer
• leaf sewer
• sewer fly
• sewer gas
• sewer rat
• sewer service
• sewer socialism
• storm sewer

 

Translations

pipes used to remove human waste and to provide drainage

• Ancient Greek: γόργυρα f (górgura)
• Arabic: بَالُوعَة‎ (bālūʕa)
• Asturian: alcantariella f, alcantarelláu m
• Azerbaijani: lağım, kanalizasiya
• Basque: estolda (eu)
• Belarusian: сцёкавая труба́ f (scjókavaja trubá), каналіза́цыя f (kanalizácyja)
• Bulgarian: кана́л (bg) m (kanál)
• Catalan: claveguera (ca) f, clavegueram (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 下水道 (zh) (xiàshuǐdào), 滲溝／渗沟 (zh) (shèngōu), 陰溝／阴沟 (zh) (yīngōu)

• Czech: kanalizace (cs) f, stoka (cs) f, kanál (cs) m
• Dutch: riool (nl) n
• Esperanto: kloako
• Finnish: viemäri (fi)
• French: égout (fr) m
• Galician: sumidoiro (gl) m, tréstiga f, ludreira f
• German: Kanalisation (de) f
• Hebrew: בִּיב‎ (he) m (biv), בִּיּוּב‎ m (biyúv)
• Hungarian: csatorna (hu), szennyvízcsatorna (hu), kanális (hu)
• Icelandic: frárennsli (is), holræsi (is), klóak, lokræsi
• Indonesian: selokan (id), got (id) (informal)
• Irish: séarach m
• Italian: fogna (it) f, chiavica f, cloaca (it) f, fognatura (it) f
• Japanese: 下水道 (ja) (げすいどう, gesuidō)
• Korean: 하수도(下水道) (ko) (hasudo)
• Latin: cloāca f
• Macedonian: ка́нал m (kánal)
• Maori: paipa harihari paru, paipa waiparakaingaki
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kloakk m

  Nynorsk: kloakk m

• Ottoman Turkish: لغم‎ (lağım), گریز‎ (geriz, giriz)
• Polish: kanały ściekowe m pl, ścieki (pl) m pl, kanalizacja (pl) f, rynsztok (pl) m
• Portuguese: esgoto (pt) m
• Russian: сто́чная труба́ f (stóčnaja trubá), канализацио́нная труба́ f (kanalizaciónnaja trubá), колле́ктор (ru) m (kolléktor), канализа́ция (ru) f (kanalizácija)
• Slovak: kanál m, stoka f, kanalizácia f
• Spanish: alcantarilla (es) f, cloaca (es) f, alcantarillado (es) m, albañal (es) m
• Swedish: kloak (sv) c
• Tagalog: alkantarilya
• Turkish: kanalizasyon (tr), lağım döşemi (tr)
• Ukrainian: сті́чна труба́ f (stíčna trubá), каналіза́ція (uk) f (kanalizácija)
• Vietnamese: cống (vi)
• Welsh: carthffos f, ceuffos f

Verb

sewer (third-person singular simple present sewers, present participle sewering, simple past and past participle sewered)

1. (transitive) To provide (a place) with a system of sewers.

Etymology 2

From Middle English seware, seuere, from Anglo-Norman asseour, from Old French asseoir (“find a seat for”), from Latin assidēre, present active participle of assideō (“attend to”), from ad (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: so͞o'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uːə/
• (General American) enPR: so͞oər, IPA^(key): /ˈsuɚ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: sew‧er

Noun

sewer (plural sewers)

1. (now historical) A servant attending at a meal who is responsible for seating arrangements, serving dishes, etc.
   • 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:

     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.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 287:

     His nephew Charles, meanwhile, had grown up in the royal household, working as a sewer, or waiter.

Etymology 3

sew +‎ -er

A sewer (Etymology 3) in Dhaka

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sō'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊə/
• (US) enPR: sō'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: sower
• Rhymes: -əʊə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: sew‧er

Noun

sewer (plural sewers)

1. One who sews.
   • 1890, Jacob A[ugust] Riis, “The Sweaters of Jewtown”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 131–132:

     Up under the roof three men are making boys’ jackets at twenty cents a piece, of which the sewer takes eight, the ironer three, the finisher five cents, and the buttonhole-maker two and a quarter, leaving a cent and three-quarters to pay for the drumming up, the fetching and bringing back of the goods.

2. A small tortricid moth, the larva of which sews together the edges of a leaf using silk.

   the apple-leaf sewer, Ancylis nubeculana

Synonyms

• (one who sews): sempster/sempstress (man/woman), seamster/seamstress (man/woman), tailor

Translations

person who sews clothing

• Afrikaans: naaier
• Arabic: خَيَّاط‎ m (ḵayyāṭ)
• Belarusian: шаве́ц m (šavjéc) (also shoemaker), краве́ц m (kravjéc)
• Bulgarian: шива́ч (bg) m (šiváč), шива́чка f (šiváčka)
• Czech: šič m, šička f
• Danish: syer c
• Dutch: naaier m, naaister (nl) f
• Finnish: ompelija (fi)
• French: couturier (fr) m, couturière (fr) f
• Galician: costureiro (gl) m, costureira (gl) f
• German: Näher (de) m, Näherin (de) f
• Polish: szwacz (pl) m, szwaczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: costureiro (pt) m
• Russian: портно́й (ru) m (portnój), портни́ха (ru) f (portníxa), швец (ru) m (švec), швея́ (ru) f (švejá)
• Spanish: costurero m, costurera f, cosedor m, cosedora f
• Swedish: sömmare c, sömmerska (sv) c
• Turkish: terzi (tr), dikişçi (tr)
• Ukrainian: швач m (švač), краве́ць (uk) m (kravécʹ)
• Volapük: (♂♀) nägan, (♂) hinägan, (♀) jinägan (vo)

Anagrams

• Ewers, Weser, ewers, re-sew, resew, sweer, weres

Middle English

Verb

sewer

1. Alternative form of suren