Backwater.

(1) Water at the lower end of a millrace to check the speed of the wheel. (2) A current of water from the inland, which clears off the deposit of sand and silt left by the action of the sea; as the Backwater of Weymouth.

previous entry · index · next entry

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Back and Edge
Backbite (To)
Backbone (The)
Backgammon
Background
Back-hander
Back-speer (To)
Back-stair Influence
Backwardation (Stockbrokers term)
Backward Blessing (Muttering a)
Backwater
Bacon
Baconian Philosophy
Baconian Theory
Bactrian Sage
Bad
Bad Blood
Bad Books
Bad Debts
Bad Form
Bad Lot (A)