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standpipe

American  
[stand-pahyp] / ˈstændˌpaɪp /

noun

  1. a vertical pipe or tower into which water is pumped to obtain a required head.

  2. a water pipe for supplying the fire hoses of a building, connected with the water supply of the building and usually with a siamese outside the building.


standpipe British  
/ ˈstændˌpaɪp /

noun

  1. a vertical pipe, open at the upper end, attached to a pipeline or tank serving to limit the pressure head to that of the height of the pipe

  2. a temporary freshwater outlet installed in a street during a period when household water supplies are cut off

"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

Etymology

Origin of standpipe

First recorded in 1840–50; stand + pipe 1

Vocabulary lists containing standpipe

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.

As she filled up plastic jerry cans with water from a standpipe in the street, the 39-year-old admitted she was struggling to provide the food and water her young children needed.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2024

You might also try disassembling and cleaning the P-trap below the standpipe.

From Washington Post • May 23, 2022

He later told the employee to put in a lid with a lock on top of the standpipe, and a roughly two-foot elbow pipe angled at 90 degrees into the water district’s canal.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2022

Find your washing machine’s discharge hose, which is probably emptying into a nearby standpipe or utility sink.

From New York Times • Jul. 6, 2021

In the middle of the town, beside the street, is a tall, thin standpipe, and this standpipe was to demonstrate a "shoot off" of the gas.

From Westward with the Prince of Wales by Newton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)

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