drainage basin

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noun

the area drained by a river and all its tributaries.

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Also called catchment area, drainage area .

Compare watershed (def. 2).

Origin of drainage basin

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Words nearby drainage basin

drag up, drahthaar, drail, drain, drainage, drainage basin, drainage tube, drainageway, drainboard, drainer, drainfield

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use drainage basin in a sentence

Another boy walks around and offers a water jug and basin for everyone to wash their hands.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley|Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A lake may dry up in one region, but a new one can form when rains fill a basin elsewhere.
A Cloud Forms Over Saturn’s Mysterious Moon|Matthew R. Francis|August 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He would smuggle the live birds inside his shirt to get them back to his cell, where he had a killing basin.
Tales of a Jailhouse Gourmet: How I learned to Cook in Prison|Daniel Genis|June 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A pair of magnitude 4-5 earthquakes in the Los Angeles basin.
A Lot of Earthquakes Have Been Reported Lately, but Scientists Aren’t Worried|Erik Klemetti|April 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST

At the same instant he plunged his hand into the basin and drew out the flower.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show|Robert W. Chambers|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The last three years I've been in the Judith Basin, and southern outfits haven't begun to come in there yet.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
When used by gentlemen it was common to carry a silver basin to spit in.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
She peeped out at him two or three times as she stood washing herself in the little basin between the windows.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
On the wash-stand a spangled white tulle hat lay drowning in a basin half full of water.
Rosemary in Search of a Father|C. N. Williamson
The payment for this drainage was to be one-twentieth part of the ore raised by the different mines.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick

British Dictionary definitions for drainage basin

drainage basin

drainage area

noun

another name for catchment area

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

Scientific definitions for drainage basin

drainage basin

[ drā′nĭj ]

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.

drainage basin

Origin of drainage basin

Words nearby drainage basin

Words related to drainage basin

How to use drainage basin in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for drainage basin

drainage area

Scientific definitions for drainage basin