sewer
sewer Lexical Profile
sewer Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An underground conduit, pipe, or channel designed for carrying off drainage water and waste matter from buildings and streets to a treatment facility or disposal point.
"Heavy rainfall overwhelmed the municipal sewer, causing water to back up into the streets."
A person who sews, stitches, or makes and repairs garments using a needle and thread or a sewing machine.
"As an experienced sewer, she was able to alter the wedding dress in just two days."
A place, situation, or environment characterized by moral corruption, squalor, or filth.
"The investigative journalist exposed the online forum as a veritable sewer of disinformation and vitriol."
• verb
To provide or equip an area, town, or building with a system of underground sewers for drainage.
"The municipal government approved a bond measure to sewer the newly annexed residential district."
Word Nuance & Usage
"Sewer" represents two distinct homographs with different pronunciations and origins: when pronounced /ˈsuːər/, it refers to an underground drainage pipe, whereas when pronounced /ˈsoʊər/ (rhyming with "mower"), it refers to a person who sews with a needle and thread.
• Rhymes for sewer
Word Origin & Etymology
The drainage sense derives from Middle English sewere, from Anglo-Norman sever, ultimately traced to Vulgar Latin exaquaria ("channel for draining water out"), from Latin ex- ("out") and aqua ("water"). The garment-making sense derives from Old English siwian ("to stitch") plus the agentive suffix -er.