Cistern

Quick meaning: Cistern is a noun meaning A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.

Meaning

A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.

More Meanings

1. In a flush toilet, the container in which the water used for flushing is held; a toilet tank.
2. A shallow, typically oval, vessel made of porcelain, pottery, or glass.
3. The receptacle that holds the fuel in an oil lamp.
4. (biology) A cisterna.
5. The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.

Example Sentences

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.

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.

Word Forms

• cisterns

Synonyms for cistern

Depending on context, synonyms include cisterna.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include cisterna, pool, trough, barrel, tank, pail.

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