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jerkwater

jerk·wa·ter
J j

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [jurk-waw-ter, -wot-er]
    • /ˈdʒɜrkˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər/
    • /ˈdʒɜːkˌwɔː.tər/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [jurk-waw-ter, -wot-er]
    • /ˈdʒɜrkˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər/

Definitions of jerkwater word

  • adjective jerkwater Informal. insignificant and out-of-the-way: a jerkwater town. 1
  • adjective jerkwater (formerly) off the main line: a jerkwater train. 1
  • noun jerkwater (formerly) a train not running on the main line. 1
  • noun jerkwater Of or associated with small, remote, and insignificant rural settlements. 1
  • adjective jerkwater backwoods, insignificant 1
  • adjective jerkwater inferior and insignificant 0

Information block about the term

Origin of jerkwater

First appearance:

before 1875
One of the 25% newest English words
1875-80, Americanism; jerk1 + water; so called from the jerking (i.e., drawing) of water to fill buckets for supplying a steam locomotive

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Jerkwater

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

jerkwater popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 44% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

jerkwater usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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