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
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
One morning last week a chilly dawn broke over a jerkwater Georgia town on the Southern Railroad.
From Time Magazine Archive
Harvard's varsity made Yale's look like a jerkwater crew.
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.
