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

cissus, cissy, cist, cistaceous, cistercian, cistern, cistern barometer, cisterna, cisternal puncture, cisternography, cistron

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 Forms

cisternal (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