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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

jerkwater en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈd͡ʒɚk.wɔ.tɚ/ (US)
  • (Australia) audio

Etymology

From jerk (“to move with a sudden movement”) + water. Refers to the need to supply the boilers of steam trains with water. In rural areas and small towns with no water tower, where the train did not stop, this was done by scooping ("jerking") water from a track pan. First appears c. 1852, in the Miami County Sentinel (Peru, Indiana).

Meanings

  1. (US, colloquial, derogatory) Of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, and backward.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most jerkwater Degree=Sup lexicographic
more jerkwater Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

jerkwater town

Relateds

jerk water · jerk-water · whistle-stop · water column

Synonyms

See: Thesaurus:remote place

Translations (3)

pl zabity deskami (of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, backward) · ru ма́ленький (of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, backward) · ru незначи́тельный (of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, backward)

jerkwater en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈd͡ʒɚk.wɔ.tɚ/ (US)
  • (Australia) audio

Etymology

From jerk (“to move with a sudden movement”) + water. Refers to the need to supply the boilers of steam trains with water. In rural areas and small towns with no water tower, where the train did not stop, this was done by scooping ("jerking") water from a track pan. First appears c. 1852, in the Miami County Sentinel (Peru, Indiana).

Meanings

  1. (US, historical) A train on a branch line.
    • […] by bailing from near streams with buckets, (the brake-man called this operation jerking water) and from this the road gets its name of jerkwater road. 1975 Mar, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana Magazine of History, volume 71, number 1, page 355:
  2. A jerkwater town.
    • Twenty-five miles down the narrow arid highway, there is another town like Napoleon, a little smaller. And then twenty-five miles further, another. This chain of jerkwaters stretches for a lazy afternoon, until you finally encounter a cluster of people that almost resembles a modern civilization, with a movie theater and chain restaurants. 2016 April 19, Rex Sorgatz, “The Internet Really Has Changed Everything. Here’s the Proof.”, in Wired:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
jerkwaters Number=Plur lexicographic

Translations (1)

pl pociąg na linii bocznej (a train on a branch line)