cistern

[ sis-tern ]

/ ˈsɪs tərn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cistern ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.

Anatomy. a reservoir or receptacle of some natural fluid of the body.

RELATED WORDS

pond, well, tank, cisterna

Nearby words

Origin of cistern

1250–1300; Middle English cistern(e) < Latin cisterna, equivalent to cist(a) (see cist¹) + -erna noun suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cistern

So I sneaks back in and sets all the flatirons in the house on top of the cistern lid.
Danny's Own Story|Don Marquis
The cistern bottom being thus let down, the mercury will sink to its proper level quickly.
A Treatise on Meteorological Instruments|Henry Negretti
Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the cistern.
The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House|Hildegard G. Frey
They were so large that a person could live in such a cistern, and this is also reported as having happened.
Teutonic Mythology, Vol. 1 of 3|Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D.

But this, says Whately, "is as reasonable as to wonder that a cistern if filled should not be a perpetual fountain."
The Mind and Its Education|George Herbert Betts

British Dictionary definitions for cistern

cistern

/ (ˈsɪstən) /

noun

a tank for the storage of water, esp on or within the roof of a house or connected to a WC

an underground reservoir for the storage of a liquid, esp rainwater

anatomy another name for cisterna

Derived Formscisternal (sɪˈstɜːnəl), adjective

Word Origin for cistern

C13: from Old French cisterne, from Latin cisterna underground tank, from cista box

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

Word Origin and History for cistern

cistern

mid-13c., from Old French cisterne "cistern; dungeon, underground prison" (12c., Modern French citerne), from Latin cisterna "underground reservoir for water," from cista "chest, box," from Greek kiste "box, chest" (see chest).

Medicine definitions for cistern

cistern

[ sĭs′tərn ]

n.

A cisterna.