† ˈwatergang Obs.
Also 3 -gong.
[f. water n. + gang n.1 Cf. ON. vatn(a)gang-r flood, (M)Du. watergang watercourse, G. wassergang flow of water, watercourse.]
1. A flood.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 662 Nembrot gat hise feres red, for ðat he hadde of water dred, To maken a tur, wel heȝ & strong, Of tigel and ter, for water-gong. |
2. A watercourse, esp. an artificial watercourse, a mill-leat or the like.
| ? a 1200 in Dugdale Monast. (1661) II. 920/2 Omnibus baillivis de Besintone..Robertus de Curci salutem: mando vobis..quatinus justicietis meos homines de Snargate, ut faciant wallas & watergangas & clausuras wallarum. 1209 in Archæologia 1893, Ser. ii. III. 295 note, [‘The word watergangs occurs..in an inedited charter of La Capelle’]. 1322 in Muniments Magd. Coll. Oxf. (1882) 145. 1433 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 22/2 Þat þe breif vndirwrittyn haf courss quhil þe next parliament alanerly of wattir gangis þat is to say of milne leidis & of nane vthir thingis. 1509 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 702/2 Le Wattirgang, aque sive torrentis de Grenelaw. Ibid. 703/1 Le Wattirgang dict. molendini. 1601 Ibid. 391/2 Passand south up the auld rin or watergang of the Teillburne. 1754 T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich 96 In the year 1740 the men of Dunwich were digging a Trench near their Old-Port, cross the Beach, to make a Watergang to drain their Marshes. |
3. Sc. Law. (See quot.)
| 1681 Stair Inst. Law Scot. i. xvii. §12. 345 A Watergang is a Servitude, of conveying Water thorow the servient Ground for the use of the Dominant. |