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drainage basin

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noun
  1. the area drained by a river and all its tributaries.Also called catchment area, drainage area.Compare watershed(def 2).
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Origin of drainage basin

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

watershed

Examples from the Web for drainage basin

Historical Examples

  • Taken as a whole, the Two Medicine drainage-basin is an epitome of Glacier in miniature.

    The Book of the National Parks

    Robert Sterling Yard

British Dictionary definitions for drainage basin

drainage basin

drainage area

noun
  1. another name for catchment area
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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
drainage basin in Science

drainage basin

[drā′nĭj]
  1. An area drained by a river system. A drainage basin includes all areas that gather precipitation water and direct it to a particular stream, stream system, lake, or other body of standing water.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.