cistern
/ˈsɪs.tɚn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.69 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.
noun
The receptacle that holds the fuel in an oil lamp.
noun
A cisterna.
noun
The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.
Example Sentences
- "For cistern valves, they are well adapted—opening the full area upon the least descent of the ball, and are not liable to be set fast."
- "1913, A.C. Cotter, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wells in Scripture", Their extreme necessity is attested by the countless number of old, unused cisterns with which the Holy Land is literally honeycombed."
- "On a broad ledge near the top, we found a stone cabin. Higher up was a cistern and a few more terraces."
- "Cisterns (bôr, bō'r), mentioned frequently in the Bible, are artificial reservoirs, usually cut into bedrock, for collecting and conserving rain runoff from roofs and courtyards."
- "It is possible to connect your tank to your toilet cistern and/or garden, so that even if the water is not drinkable it still can be used productively to make major water savings."
- "By next winter he was spending every evening poring over the work of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné on the French Reformation by the light of a little oil lamp, with a tiny cistern the size of an orange and no chimney[.]"
Etymology
From Middle English cisterne, from Old French cisterne (Modern French citerne) from Latin cisterna, from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”). Doublet of cisterna.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɪs.tɚn/
- British English: /ˈsɪs.tən/