jerkwater

[ jurk-waw-ter, -wot-er ]

adjective

Informal. insignificant and out-of-the-way: a jerkwater town.
(formerly) off the main line: a jerkwater train.

noun

(formerly) a train not running on the main line.

Origin of jerkwater

1875–80, Americanism;jerk¹ + water; so called from the jerking (i.e., drawing) of water to fill buckets for supplying a steam locomotive

Words Nearby jerkwater

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use jerkwater in a sentence

And we can empty that pocket just as well with a little jerkwater outfit like this as we could with a big crew and a real mill.
The Killer | Stewart Edward White
He'd make more dough if he owned the local garage and dealer franchise for one of the automobile companies in some jerkwater town.
The Common Man | Guy McCord (AKA Dallas McCord Reynolds)
They came from Chicago and jerkwater towns in Nebraska, from farms and steel mills, from the stage and the pulpit.
Land of the Burnt Thigh | Edith Eudora Kohl
He's never been out of a jerkwater burg in his life, hardly.
Free Air | Sinclair Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for jerkwater

jerkwater

/ (ˈdʒɜːkˌwɔːtə) /

adjective

US and Canadian slang inferior and insignificant: a jerkwater town

Origin of jerkwater

C19: originally referring to railway locomotives for which water was taken on in buckets from streams along the route

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

Browse