waterway

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

See more synonyms for waterway on Thesaurus.com

noun

a river, canal, or other body of water serving as a route or way of travel or transport.
Shipbuilding. (in a steel or iron vessel) a depressed gutter at the edge of the deck inside the bulwarks, used especially when the decking is wooden.
a channel for vessels, as a fairway in a harbor.

Origin of waterway

before 950; Middle English; Old English wæterweg. See water, way¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for waterway

gully, dike, trough, gorge, moat, pit, foxhole, waterway, lane, boulevard, freeway, street, artery, expressway, avenue, highway, causeway, inlet, rut, canal

Examples from the Web for waterway

Contemporary Examples of waterway

In the 1880s, the body of an unknown young woman was found floating in the Paris waterway.
Brooklyn’s Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy’s House of Intriguing Horrors
Nina Strochlic
July 10, 2014
Sewage running from their base has long polluted the waterway, but the authorities never paid attention.
United Nations Still Denies its Troops Brought Cholera to Haiti
Jonathan M. Katz
April 4, 2012

Historical Examples of waterway

They may be "The waterway is not clear," or "Small junks should anchor here."
From Pole to Pole
Sven Anders Hedin
Injuring any road, rail, or waterway, or means of communication.
The Message
Alec John Dawson
We get a waterway for large ships to within fifty miles of Damascus.
The Life of Gordon, Volume II
Demetrius Charles Boulger
They halted on the bridge and looked over the balustrade, up the waterway.
The Mercenary
W. J. Eccott
Now that the monks had the waterway and could get at their forests, they pushed the industry.
The Book of Coniston
William Gershom Collingwood

British Dictionary definitions for waterway

waterway

noun

a river, canal, or other navigable channel used as a means of travel or transport

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

Word Origin and History for waterway

Old English wæterweg; see water (n.1) + way.