water back

American

noun

a reservoir or arrangement of tubing at the back of certain stoves or fireplaces for containing water to be heated by the fire.

water back British

noun

the US name for back boiler

"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 water back

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

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.

Mom turned the water back on and that was the end of my eavesdropping.

From Literature

He tried not watering at all, but when he saw the California fuchsia, also called ‘hummingbird fuchsia’ because the birds love it, struggling, he turned the water back on.

From Los Angeles Times

One thing is for certain, we were never going to find either food or water back down on that road.

From Literature

I don’t think anyone drank water back then.

From Los Angeles Times

The floor underneath them shuddered and lurched again, sloshing water back and forth across their feet, and this time there was no doubting it.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023