sprinkler

American  

[spring-kler] / ˈsprɪŋ klər /

noun

1. any of various devices for sprinkling, as a watering pot, a container of water with a perforated top used to sprinkle clothes before ironing, or especially a perforated ring or small stand with a revolving nozzle to which a hose is attached for watering a lawn with a fine, even spray.

2. a person who sprinkles.

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verb (used with object)

1. to provide (a warehouse, school, office building, etc.) with a sprinkler system.

sprinkler British  

/ ˈsprɪŋklə /

noun

1. a device perforated with small holes that is attached to a garden hose or watering can and used to spray plants, lawns, etc, with water

2. a person or thing that sprinkles

3. See sprinkler system

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Etymology

Origin of sprinkler

First recorded in 1525–35; sprinkle + -er ¹

Explanation

A sprinkler is a garden device that sprays water onto your grass or plants. You can attach a small lawn sprinkler to a hose in your yard when your flowers are looking droopy. Sprinklers are mainly used to irrigate, or provide water, to plants. There are complex systems of sprinklers that can be installed in the ground for a large area, like a public park or an estate's acres of lawns. The more common type of sprinkler hooks up to a hose and can be moved wherever it's needed — including in the middle of a yard for kids to run through in their bathing suits.

Example Sentences

Sprinkler systems can cost north of $100,000, for example.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026

For decades scientists have been trying to solve Feynman's Sprinkler Problem: How does a sprinkler running in reverse -- in which the water flows into the device rather than out of it -- work?

From Science Daily • Jan. 29, 2024

Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board of Puget Sound works to protect lives and property from the ravages of fire through education, advocacy and outreach.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 21, 2023

It might be called the Sprinkler in honour of England’s dance against the Aussies.”

From The Guardian • Aug. 2, 2018

I have in the second company a mustachioed scarecrow, Sergeant-Major Dobrzynski, who calls himself Sprinkler, but whom the Masovians call the Lithuanian bear.

From Pan Tadeusz Or, the Last Foray in Lithuania; a Story of Life Among Polish Gentlefolk in the Years 1811 and 1812 by Noyes, George Rapall

Related Words

• aerosol
• sprayer