Dictionary

waterbasket en · NOUN

Etymology

From water + basket.

Meanings

1. A basket that is woven tightly enough for carrying liquids, especially water.
   • Horda pulverized a small amount of mugwort and willow bark and set it in a waterbasket to brew into strong tea. 2009, Grace Anne Schaefer, As Shadows Fall, page 123:
   • For the first time he smokes, and for a wonder he creates a house "with smoke coming out of it—that is, a real domestic house, manmade as it were, out of which steps a beautiful woman, already carrying a waterbasket. 2016, Jarold Ramsey, Reading the Fire: The Traditional Indian Literatures of America, page 20:
   • Apt decided her visitor's arrival would be a while yet, so went back to her cottage to fetch some sweet-root scones and a woven birch waterbasket of herbal tea. 2009, Megan Greenberg, The Orser's Promise, page 84:
   • That is where the Squaw Dance started; and that is where the hand-bundle (drumstick) for beating the waterbasket originated. 1977, Karl W. Luckert, Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge Religion, page 86:
   • There was a — what is it called — a big waterbasket lying there. His mother had practically filled it with what she was gathering and was ready to go home. 1970, Hansjakob Seiler, Cahuilla Texts with an Introduction, page 122:

Forms