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jerkwater

 - 3 dictionary results

jerk⋅wa⋅ter

  [jurk-waw-ter, -wot-er]
–adjective
1. Informal. insignificant and out-of-the-way: a jerkwater town.
2. (formerly) off the main line: a jerkwater train.
–noun
3. (formerly) a train not running on the main line.
Use jerkwater in a Sentence
Origin:
1875–80, Americanism; jerk 1 + water; so called from the jerking (i.e., drawing) of water to fill buckets for supplying a steam locomotive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To jerkwater
jerk·wa·ter   (jûrk'wô'tər, -wŏt'ər)   
adj.   Informal

  1. Remote, small, and insignificant: a jerkwater town.

  2. Contemptibly trivial: jerkwater notions.


[From jerkwater, a branch-line train, so called because its small boiler had to be refilled often, requiring train crews to "jerk" or draw water from streams.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
jerkwater

  1. mod.
    rural; backwoodsy; insignificant. (See also one-horse town.) : I'm from a little jerkwater town in the Midwest.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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