Waterpot - Watertath

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Water moccasin (?). (Zoöl.) A venomous North American snake (Ancistrodon piscivorus) allied to the rattlesnake but destitute of a rattle. It lives in or about pools and ponds, and feeds largely of fishes. Called also water snake, water adder, water viper.
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Water mole (?). (Zoöl.) (a) The shrew mole. See under . (b) The duck mole. See under .
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Water monitor (?). (Zoöl.) A very large lizard (Varanaus salvator) native of India. It frequents the borders of streams and swims actively. It becomes five or six feet long. Called also two-banded monitor, and kabaragoya. The name is also applied to other aquatic monitors.
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Water monkey. A jar or bottle, as of porous earthenware, in which water is cooled by evaporation.
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Water motor (?). 1. A water engine.
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2. A water wheel; especially, a small water wheel driven by water from a street main.
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Water mouse (?). (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of mice belonging to the genus Hydromys, native of Australia and Tasmania. Their hind legs are strong and their toes partially webbed. They live on the borders of streams, and swim well. They are remarkable as being the only rodents found in Australia.
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Water murrain (?). A kind of murrain affecting cattle. Crabb.
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Water newt (?). (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of aquatic salamanders; a triton.
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Water nymph (?). 1. (Myth.) A goddess of any stream or other body of water, whether one of the Naiads, Nereids, or Oceanides.
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2. (Bot.) A water lily (Nymphæa).
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Water oat (?). Indian rice. See under .
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Water opossum (?). (Zoöl.) See , and the Note under .
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Water ordeal (?). Same as Ordeal by water. See the Note under , n., 1.
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{ Water ousel (?), Water ouzel }. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of small insessorial birds of the genus Cinclus (or Hydrobates), especially the European water ousel (Cinclus aquaticus), and the American water ousel (Cinclus Mexicanus). These birds live about the water, and are in the habit of walking on the bottom of streams beneath the water in search of food.
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Water parsnip (?). (Bot.) Any plant of the aquatic umbelliferous genus Sium, poisonous herbs with pinnate or dissected leaves and small white flowers.
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Water parting. (Phys. Geog.) A summit from the opposite sides of which rain waters flow to different streams; a line separating the drainage districts of two streams or coasts; a divide; a watershed.
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Water partridge (?). (Zoöl.) The ruddy duck. [Local, U. S.]
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Water pennywort (?). (Bot.) Marsh pennywort. See under .
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Water pepper (?). (Bot.) (a) Smartweed. (b) Waterwort.
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Water pheasant (?). (Zoöl.) (a) The pintail. See , n., 1. (b) The goosander. (c) The hooded merganser.
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Water piet (?). (Zoöl.) The water ousel.
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Water pig (?). 1. (Zoöl.) The capybara.
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2. (Zoöl.) The gourami.
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Water pillar (?). A waterspout. [Obs.]
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Water pimpernel (?). (Bot.) A small white-flowered shrub; brookweed.
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Water pipe (?). A pipe for conveying water.
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Water pitcher (?). 1. A pitcher for water.
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2. (Bot.) One of a family of plants having pitcher-shaped leaves. The sidesaddle flower (Sarracenia purpurea) is the type.
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Water plant (?). A plant that grows in water; an aquatic plant.
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Water plantain (?). (Bot.) A kind of plant with acrid leaves. See under 2d .
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Water plate (?). A plate heated by hot water contained in a double bottom or jacket. Knight.
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Water poa (?). (Bot.) Meadow reed grass. See under .
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Water pocket. A water hole in the bed of an intermittent stream, esp. the bowl at the foot of a cliff over which the stream leaps when in the flood stage. [Western U. S.]
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Water poise (?). A hydrometer.
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Water pore (?), 1. (Zoöl.) A pore by which the water tubes of various invertebrates open externally.
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2. (Bot.) One of certain minute pores in the leaves of some plants. They are without true guardian cells, but in other respects closely resemble ordinary stomata. Goodale.
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Waterpot (?), n. A vessel for holding or conveying water, or for sprinkling water on cloth, plants, etc.
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Water power (?). 1. The power of water employed to move machinery, etc.
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2. A fall of water which may be used to drive machinery; a site for a water mill; a water privilege.
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Water pox (?). (Med.) A variety of chicken pox, or varicella. Dunglison.
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Water privilege (?). The advantage of using water as a mechanical power; also, the place where water is, or may be, so used. See under .
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Waterproof (?), a. Proof against penetration or permeation by water; impervious to water; as, a waterproof garment; a waterproof roof.
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Waterproof, n. 1. A substance or preparation for rendering cloth, leather, etc., impervious to water.
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2. Cloth made waterproof, or any article made of such cloth, or of other waterproof material, as rubber; esp., an outer garment made of such material.
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Waterproof (?), v. t. To render impervious to water, as cloth, leather, etc.
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Waterproofing, n. 1. The act or process of making waterproof.
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2. Same as , n., 1.
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Water purslane (?). (Bot.) See under .
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Water qualm (?). (Med.) See Water brash, under .
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Water rabbit (?). (Zoöl.) See .
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Water radish (?). (Bot.) A coarse yellow-flowered plant (Nasturtium amphibium) related to the water cress and to the horse-radish.
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Water rail (?). (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of rails of the genus Rallus, as the common European species (Rallus aquaticus). See Illust. of .
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Water ram (?). An hydraulic ram.
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Water rat (?). 1. (Zoöl.) (a) The water vole. See under . (b) The muskrat. (c) The beaver rat. See under .
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2. A thief on the water; a pirate.
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Water rate (?). A rate or tax for a supply of water.
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{ Water rattle (?). Water rattler (?). } (Zoöl.) The diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus); -- so called from its preference for damp places near water.
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Water-ret (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Water-retted; p. pr. & vb. n. Water-retting.] To ret, or rot, in water, as flax; to water-rot.
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Water rice (?). Indian rice. See under .
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Water rocket (?). 1. (Bot.) A cruciferous plant (Nasturtium sylvestre) with small yellow flowers.
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2. A kind of firework to be discharged in the water.
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Water-rot (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Water-rotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Water-rotting.] To rot by steeping in water; to water-ret; as, to water-rot hemp or flax.
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Water sail (?). (Naut.) A small sail sometimes set under a studding sail or under a driver boom, and reaching nearly to the water.
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Water sapphire (?). [Equiv. to F. saphir d'eau.] (Min.) A deep blue variety of iolite, sometimes used as a gem; -- called also saphir d'eau.
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Waterscape (?), n. [Cf. .] A sea view; -- distinguished from landscape. [Jocose] Fairholt.
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Water scorpion (?). (Zoöl.) See .
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Water screw (?). A screw propeller.
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Watershed (?), n. [Cf. G. wasserscheide; wasser water + scheide a place where two things separate, fr. scheiden to separate.]
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1. The whole region or extent of country which contributes to the supply of a river or lake.
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2. The line of division between two adjacent rivers or lakes with respect to the flow of water by natural channels into them; the natural boundary of a basin; -- called also divide and water parting.
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3. a point in time marking an important transition between two situations, or phases of an activity; a turning point.
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Water shield (?). (Bot.) An aquatic American plant (Brasenia peltata) having floating oval leaves, and the covered with a clear jelly.
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Watershoot (?), n. 1. A sprig or shoot from the root or stock of a tree. [Obs.]
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2. (Arch.) That which serves to guard from falling water; a drip or dripstone.
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3. A trough for discharging water.
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Water shrew (?). (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of shrews having fringed feet and capable of swimming actively. The two common European species (Crossopus fodiens, and Crossopus ciliatus) are the best known. The most common American water shrew, or marsh shrew (Neosorex palustris), is rarely seen, owing to its nocturnal habits.
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Water snail (?). 1. (Zoöl.) Any aquatic pulmonate gastropod belonging to Planorbis, Limnæa, and allied genera; a pond snail.
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2. (Mech.) The Archimedean screw. [R.]
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Water snake (?). (Zoöl.) (a) A common North American colubrine snake (Tropidonotus sipedon) which lives chiefly in the water. (b) Any species of snakes of the family Homalopsidæ, all of which are aquatic in their habits.
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Water-soak (?), v. t. To soak water; to fill the interstices of with water.
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Water soldier (?). (Bot.) An aquatic European plant (Stratiotes aloides) with bayonet-shaped leaves.
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Water souchy (?). (Cookery) A dish consisting of small fish stewed and served in a little water. [Written also water souchet.] See .
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Water spaniel (?). A curly-haired breed of spaniels, naturally very fond of the water.
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Water sparrow (?). (Zoöl.) (a) The reed warbler. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The reed bunting. [Prov. Eng.]
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Water speedwell (?). (Bot.) A kind of speedwell (Veronica Anagallis) found in wet places in Europe and America.
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Water spider (?). (Zoöl.) (a) An aquatic European spider (Argyoneta aquatica) which constructs its web beneath the surface of the water on water plants. It lives in a bell-shaped structure of silk, open beneath like a diving bell, and filled with air which the spider carries down in the form of small bubbles attached one at a time to the spinnerets and hind feet. Called also diving spider. (b) A water mite. (c) Any spider that habitually lives on or about the water, especially the large American species (Dolomedes lanceolatus) which runs rapidly on the surface of water; -- called also raft spider.
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Water spinner (?). (Zoöl.) The water spider.
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Waterspout (?), n. A remarkable meteorological phenomenon, of the nature of a tornado or whirlwind, usually observed over the sea, but sometimes over the land.
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☞ Tall columns, apparently of cloud, and reaching from the sea to the clouds, are seen moving along, often several at once, sometimes straight and vertical, at other times inclined and tortuous, but always in rapid rotation. At their bases, the sea is violently agitated and heaped up with a leaping or boiling motion, water, at least in some cases, being actually carried up in considerable quantity, and scattered round from a great height, as solid bodies are by tornadoes on land. Sir J. Herschel.
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Water sprite (?). A sprite, or spirit, imagined as inhabiting the water. J. R. Drake.
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Water-standing (?), a. Tear-filled. [R.] “Many an orphan's water-standing eye.” Shak.
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Water star grass (?). (Bot.) An aquatic plant (Schollera graminea) with grassy leaves, and yellow star-shaped blossoms.
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Water starwort (?). See under .
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Water supply (?). A supply of water; specifically, water collected, as in reservoirs, and conveyed, as by pipes, for use in a city, mill, or the like.
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Water tabby (?). A kind of waved or watered tabby. See , n., 1.
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Water table (?). 1. (Arch.) A molding, or other projection, in the wall of a building, to throw off the water, -- generally used in the United States for the first table above the surface of the ground (see , n., 9), that is, for the table at the top of the foundation and the beginning of the upper wall.
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2. (Hydraulic Engin.) The upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water. The water table may be within a few inches of the surface or many feet below it.
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Watertath (?), n. [Water + tath, n.] A kind of coarse grass growing in wet grounds, and supposed to be injurious to sheep. [Prov. Eng.]
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Water telescope. 1. (Optics) A telescope in which the medium between the objective and the eye piece is water instead of air, used in some experiments in aberration.
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2. A telescope devised for looking into a body of water.
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Water tender. (Nav.) In the United States navy, a first-class petty officer in charge in a fireroom. He “tends” water to the boilers, sees that fires are properly cleaned and stoked, etc. There is also a rating of chief water tender, who is a chief petty officer.
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Water thermometer (?). (Physics) A thermometer filled with water instead of mercury, for ascertaining the precise temperature at which water attains its maximum density. This is about 39° Fahr., or 4° Centigrade; and from that point down to 32° Fahr., or 0° Centigrade, or the freezing point, it expands.
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Water thief (?). A pirate. [R.] Shak.
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Water thrush (?). (Zoöl.) (a) A North American bird of the genus Seiurus, belonging to the Warbler family, especially the common species (Seiurus Noveboracensis). (b) The European water ousel. (b) The pied wagtail.
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Water thyme (?). (Bot.) See .
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Water tick (?). Same as .
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Water tiger (?). (Zoöl.) A diving, or water, beetle, especially the larva of a water beetle. See Illust. b of .
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Water-tight (?), a. So tight as to retain, or not to admit, water; not leaky.
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Water torch (?). (Bot.) The common cat-tail (Typha latifolia), the spike of which makes a good torch soaked in oil. Dr. Prior.
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Water tower (?). 1. A large metal pipe made to be extended vertically by sections, and used for discharging water upon burning buildings.
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2. A tower or standpipe used as a water storage reservoir, to deliver water at a required head of pressure, as to a fountain.
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Water tree (?). (Bot.) A climbing shrub (Tetracera alnifolia syn. Tetracera potatoria) of Western Africa, which pours out a watery sap from the freshly cut stems.
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Water trefoil (?). (Bot.) The buck bean.
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Water tube (?). 1. (Zoöl.) One of a system of tubular excretory organs having external openings, found in many invertebrates. They are believed to be analogous in function to the kidneys of vertebrates. See Illust. under , and .
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2. Any tube for passing or holding water; specif., in some steam boilers, a tube in which water circulates and steam is generated.
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Water tupelo (?). (Bot.) A species of large tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) growing in swamps in the southern of the United States. See .
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Water turkey (?). (Zoöl.) The American snakebird. See .
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Water tu tuyère (?). A tuyère kept cool by water circulating within a casing. It is used for hot blast.
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Water tu twist (?). Yarn made by the throstle, or water frame.
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