echard

[ek-hahrd]

noun

the water in soil that is not available for absorption by plants.

Compare chresard.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for echard

Historical Examples of echard

Echard and Rapin are silent, both as to the event and as to the locality.
Notes and Queries, Number 208, October 22, 1853
Various
In a note, Echard is alluded to as the authority for this singular circumstance.
Notes and Queries, Number 82, May 24, 1851
Various
Even in his own age his part in it was, as obsolete Echard says, 'all riddle and mystery.'
Sir Walter Ralegh
William Stebbing
Echard says, that Charles refused her a reprieve of six weeks.
The Town
Leigh Hunt
“Never were fairer promises on one side, nor greater generosity on the other,” says Mr. Echard.
A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second
Charles James Fox

British Dictionary definitions for echard

echard

noun

water that is present in the soil but cannot be absorbed or otherwise utilized by plants

Word Origin for echard

C20: from Greek ekhein to hold back + ardein to water

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