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Definition: Watershed |
WatershedNoun1. A line that divides two adjacent river systems. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "watershed" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1839. (references) |
Etymology: Watershed \Wa"ter*shed`\, noun. [Compare to German wasserscheide; wasser water scheide place where two things separate, from scheiden to separate.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Agriculture | The total land area, regardless of size, above a given point on a waterway that contributes runoff water to the flow at that point. It is a major subdivision of a drainage basin. The United States is generally divided into 18 major drainage areas and 160 principal river drainage basins containing about 12,700 smaller watersheds. (references) |
Building & Civil Engineering | The whole area having a common outlet for its surface runoff. Source: European Union. (references) |
Environment | The land area that drains into a stream; the watershed for a major river may encompass a number of smaller watersheds that ultimately combine at a common point. (references) |
Geography | Area with a common outlet for its surface runoff. Source: European Union. (references) |
| The area from which a lake, stream or waterway and reservoir receives surface flow which originates as precipitation. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Boundary between catchment areas or drainage areas. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Hydrologic | Land area from which water drains toward a common watercourse in a natural basin. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A watershed is the region of land that drains into a specified body of water, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean. Rain that falls anywhere within a given body of water's watershed will eventually drain into that body of water.
The term can also mean the topographical dividing line between these drainage baisins: watersheds usually run along mountain ridges.
Watersheds constitute a very important type of ecoregion. Pollution anywhere within the watershed can potentially affect life anywhere downstream from it.Watersheds in ecology
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Watershed."
Synonyms: WatershedSynonyms: divide (n), water parting (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Watershed |
| English words defined with "watershed": continental divide. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "watershed": Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act ♦ Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program, EWP ♦ HYDROELECTRIC-STATION OPERATOR, CHIEF, Hydrologic Model, Hypoxie zone ♦ Interbasin Transfer ♦ maximum computed flood, McIntire-Stennis Act of 1962, Multiple use ♦ P.L. 566, production superintendent, hydro ♦ Surface-Water Treatment Rule ♦ torrential watershed ♦ Watershed and flood prevention operations, Watershed Approach, Watershed Area, watershed physiographic, WATERSHED TENDER, WFPO. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Indigo Girls: Watershed (1995) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A single draft horse pulls wood to the restoration site at the Glade Bekken watershed.Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | The understory at Glade Bekken watershed is natural and desirable as spawning habitat for coho and chum salmon that are found in the streams in this watershed.Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Dr. Hugh Hammond Bennett, (2nd from left), first Chief of the Soil Conservation Service and others at the site of the Nation's first watershed project in Coon Vally, Wisconsin.Credit: Unknown. |  | Close up of permanent diversion structure and fish screen installed on the Salmon River as part of salmon recovery work in the Salmon Model Watershed.Credit: Joel McNee. |
 | Mahantango Creek watershed near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania. The combination of land use, soil properties, and hydrogeology largely determine vulnerability of surface and groundwater contamination by agricultural activities. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |  | Range scientist Patricia Bartling reviews land use data for the Sycamore Creek watershed in Michigan for inclusion in NLEAP - a computer program developed to predict potential leaching of nitrate nitrogen and its impact on underlying aquifers. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Keith Weller.. |
 | Technician Jeff Nichols collects a water sample from the Walnut Creek watershed in Ames, Iowa. Samples are collected weekly form this area and surrounding watersheds to study the effects farming practices have on water quality. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Keith Weller.. |  | Site of the 90-square-mile Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in the Owyhee Mountains about 50 miles southwest of Boise, Idaho. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
 | Watershed scene in Western Oregon.Credit: Unknown. |  | High desert watershed northeast of McDermit, OR.Credit: Barrett. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Korea | The January 2000 sale of Korea First Bank - which had been Korea's largest commercial bank - to U.S.-based Newbridge Capital, was a watershed event. (references) |
Panama | The planned expansion of the Panama Canal watershed will also allow for increased availability of water resources that are envisioned to be utilized for power generation. (references) | |
Syria | Syria's 1990 participation in the U.S.-led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Hussein marked a dramatic watershed in Syria's relations both with other Arab states and with the West. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Philippines | The law also assigns the indigenous groups the responsibility to preserve forest, watershed, and biodiversity areas in their domains from inappropriate development. (references) |
Venezuela | The groups had charged that only the legislature may alter the nature of the reserve; that the public review process prior to the change was inadequate; and that expanded mining activities would affect adversely the health of the Warao, Arawako, Karina, Akawaio, and Pemon indigenous communities that inhabit the Imataca watershed area. (references) | |
Trade | Morocco | During FY 1999, the following loans were approved, a Fez rehabilitation project (US$14 million) a health management project (US$66 million), a Lakhdar watershed management project (US$4 million), and a pilot fisheries project (US$ 5 million). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Watershed" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.57% of the time. "Watershed" is used about 230 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.57% | 229 | 19,864 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.43% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 230 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "watershed": torrential watershed ♦ watershed physiographic. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "watershed"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | ujëndarëse, kurriz ujëndarës (water-parting), çast vendimtar (moment of truth, zero hour). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مستجمع الامطار, نقطة تحول (turning point), خط فاصل (borderer, dash). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | речен басейн, вододел (divide, water-parting), повратна точка (landmark, turning point), повратен момент. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 意义重大. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vodní předìl (water-shed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | vandskel (divide, water parting), nedbørsområde (catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, drainage basin, river basin), afvandingsområde (catchment area, catchment basin, collecting area, drain district, drainage area, drainage basin, drainage district, gathering area, gathering grounds, hydrographical basin, river basin). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | waterscheiding (divide, water parting), toevoergebied (catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, drainage basin, river basin), stroomgebied (basin, reservoir), opvanggebied (catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, drainage basin, river basin). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | vedenjakaja (divide). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | ligne de partage des eaux (water parting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Wasserscheide (catchment divide, divide, water parting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κοιλάσ μεταξύ ποταμών, υδρολογική λεκάνη (catchment area, catchment basin, collecting area, drain district, drainage area, drainage basin, drainage district, gathering area, gathering grounds, river basin), λεκάνη απορροής (catchment area, catchment basin, collecting area, divide, drain district, drainage area, drainage basin, drainage district, gathering area, gathering grounds, river basin, water parting), λεκάνη τροφοδοσίας. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | קו פרשת המים, פרשת המים (divide), נקודת מפנה (crisis, turning point). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vízválasztó (divide, shed, water-parting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | batas air. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | spartiacque (catchment divide, divide, water parting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 分水界 (divide), 分水線 (divide), 分水嶺 (divide), 分水山脈 (divide). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ぶんすいさんみゃく (divide), ぶんすいせん (divide), ぶんすいかい (divide), ぶんすいれい (divide). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 분수령. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | dreeym ushtey. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | atershedway bacia hidrográfica (water-parting). (various references) водораздел (divide, water-parting). (various references) vodomeđa (catchment), vododelnica (divide, water-parting). (various references) cuenca (basin, bowl, catchment area, hollow, socket). (various references) vattendelare (divide). (various references) sınır (border, borderland, borderline, bound, boundary, bourn, Bourne, butting, circumscription, compass, confine, deadline, extreme, extremity, frontier, limit, limitation, line of demarcation, March, pale, purlieu, skirting, stint, verge), nehir havzaları arası set, dönüm noktası (catastrophe, climacteric, climax, crisis, crossroad, crossroads, milestone, turning point), önemli olay. (various references) taraz.Turkmen/English Dictionary 119, saka (divide). (various references) вододіл (divide, ridge), басейн ріки. (various references) đường phân nước lưu vực sông dốc có nước chảy. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "watershed": watersheds. (additional references) | |
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"Watershed" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Gateshea, watershd, watershead, wayershed. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "watershed" (pronounced wÄ"tershe'd) |
| 3 | -sh e' d | bloodshed, woodshed. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-e-h-r-s-t-w" | |
-1 letter: dewaters, headrest, rewashed, tarweeds, weathers, wreathed, wreathes. | |
-2 letters: adheres, aethers, dearest, dearths, derates, dewater, drawees, earthed, hardest, hardset, hatreds, headers, headset, hearsed, hearted, heaters, redates, reheats, resawed, sedater, sheared, shrewed, steward, strawed, strewed, swathed, swather, sweated, sweater, tarweed, thawers, thrawed, threads, trashed, watered, weather, wethers, whereas, whereat, wrathed, wreathe, wreaths, wrested. | |
-3 letters: adhere. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-e-h-r-s-t-w" | |
+1 letter: headwaters, watersheds. | |
+2 letters: breadthwise, headwaiters, whitebeards. | |
+3 letters: leatherwoods. | |
+4 letters: weatherboards. | |
+5 letters: thenceforwards. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)57 61 74 65 72 73 68 65 64 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .- - . .-. ... .... . -.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "watershed" |
