tidewater
tidewater Lexical Profile
tidewater Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Water affected by the ebb and flow of the tide, or water that overflows the land at high tide.
"Brackish tidewater flooded the coastal marshes as the full moon approached."
American A low-lying coastal plain or region along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, especially in eastern Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, where rivers and inlets are subject to tidal currents.
"Many early colonial plantations were established in the fertile tidewater so tobacco could be shipped directly from private wharves."
• adjective
American Relating to, situated in, or characteristic of low-lying coastal regions or waterways affected by the ebb and flow of the tide (or, in glaciology, terminating directly in the sea).
"Rising ocean temperatures have accelerated the calving rate of tidewater glaciers along the Alaskan coast."
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in seventeenth-century American English as a compound of 'tide' (from Old English 'tid', meaning 'time' or 'season') and 'water' (from Old English 'wæter'), originally coined by colonial settlers in Virginia and Maryland to describe coastal rivers and creeks subject to oceanic tides.