water table
or wa·ter·ta·ble
- the planar, underground surface beneath which earth materials, as soil or rock, are saturated with water.
- Architecture. a projecting stringcourse or similar structural member placed so as to divert rain water from a building.
Origin of water table
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for water table
Historical Examples
The water-table should be at least two feet from the surface.
Manual of American Grape-GrowingU. P. Hedrick
If you were planting on land where the water-table is low, you would leave more tap-root?
Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual MeetingNorthern Nut Growers Association
A member: I should think that would depend quite a little on the height of the water-table.
Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual MeetingNorthern Nut Growers Association
Mr. Lake: But the capillarity of the soil provides water for the tree above the water-table.
Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual MeetingNorthern Nut Growers Association
Would you feel like saying that a water-table at 24 inches was neither too low nor too high?
Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual MeetingNorthern Nut Growers Association
water table
- the surface of the water-saturated part of the ground, usually following approximately the contours of the overlying land surface
- an offset or string course that has a moulding designed to throw rainwater clear of the wall below
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
water table
- The upper surface of an area filled with groundwater, separating the zone of aeration (the subsurface region of soil and rocks in which the pores are filled with air and usually some water) from the zone of saturation (the subsurface region in which the pores are filled only with water). Water tables rise and fall with seasonal moisture, water absorption by vegetation, and the withdrawal of groundwater from wells, among other factors. The water table is not flat but has peaks and valleys that generally conform to the overlying land surface. Compare potentiometric surface.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
water table
The depth (measured from the surface of the Earth) at which underground water is first encountered.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.