sewer

English

WOTD – 30 March 2016

Etymology 1

Inside an underground sewer (etymology 1)

From Middle English sewer, seuer, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman sewere (“water-course”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French sewiere (“overflow channel for a fishpond”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Vulgar Latin *exaquāria (“drain for carrying water off”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin ex (“out of, from”) + aquāria (“of or pertaining to waters”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: so͞o'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uːə/
• 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.

Translations

pipes used to remove human waste and to provide drainage

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: alcantariella f, alcantarelláu m
• Basque: estolda (eu)
• Belarusian: сцёкавая труба́ f (scjókavaja trubá), каналіза́цыя f (kanalizácyja)
• Catalan: claveguera (ca) f, clavegueram m
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: kanalizace (cs) f
• Dutch: riool (nl) n
• Esperanto: kloako
• Finnish: viemäri (fi)
• French: égout (fr) m
• Galician: sumidoiro (gl) m, tréstiga f, ludreira f
• German: Kanalisation (de)
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 (ko) (hasudo)
• Latin: cloāca f
• Maori: paipa harihari paru, paipa waiparakaingaki
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kloakk m

  Nynorsk: kloakk 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, kanalizácia
• Spanish: alcantarilla (es) f, cloaca f, alcantarillado (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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman asseour, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French asseoir (“find a seat for”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin assidēre, present active participle of assideō (“attend to”), from ad (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsjuːə/
• 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

A sewer (Etymology 3) in Dhaka

sew +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• enPR: sō'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊə/
• enPR: sō'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Noun

sewer (plural sewers)

1. One who sews.
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

• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: costureiro (pt) m
• Spanish: costurero m, costurera f, cosedor m, cosedora f
• Swedish: sömmare c, sömmerska (sv) c
• Turkish: terzi (tr), dikişçi (tr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) nägan, (♂) hinägan, (♀) jinägan (vo)

Anagrams

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

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Middle English

Verb

sewer

1. Alternative form of suren