jerkwater
Americanadjective
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Informal. insignificant and out-of-the-way.
a jerkwater town.
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(formerly) off the main line.
a jerkwater train.
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of jerkwater
1875–80, jerk 1 + water; so called from the jerking (i.e., drawing) of water to fill buckets for supplying a steam locomotive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A lecturer at a jerkwater technical college in England, Wilt is condemned to teach classes like Meat One and Gasfitters Two to academically disinclined students.
From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2013
One morning last week a chilly dawn broke over a jerkwater Georgia town on the Southern Railroad.
From Time Magazine Archive
As a jockey on dusty, jerkwater tracks in Reno, Emeryville and Butte, Willie blew most of his apprentice salary finding out that nobody could tell who was going to win.
From Time Magazine Archive
As well-smoked a bit of back-room political haggling as ever went on in a jerkwater election for justice of the peace took on empire dimensions last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
To his dismay, the priestess sided with Tilantongo’s enemies and ordered 8-Deer, Tilantongo's champion, to exile himself a hundred miles away, in a jerkwater town on the Pacific called Tututepec.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
