▪ I. sewage, n.
(ˈs(j)uːɪdʒ)
[Formed after sewer n.1 (apprehended as a derivative with -er1) by substitution of suffix: see -age.
The assumed verb-stem implicit in this formation coincides in form and sense with sew v.4, but, unless the n. is much older than the evidence shows, it was prob. framed without any knowledge of the verb as having been actually used.]
1. Refuse matter conveyed in sewers.
| 1834 Rep. Sel. Comm. Metrop. Sewers 169 A grating..through which the lighter and thinner parts of the sewage would rise. 1849 in Mech. Mag. Aug. (1850) 177/1 The separation of the sewage from the surface waters. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 25 Shallow wells are very apt to be contaminated..by sewage soaking from cesspits. |
| fig. 1868 Sat. Rev. 5 Dec. 749/1 (art.) Newspaper Sewage. 1884 Bookseller 6 Nov. 1190l/1 The literary sewage which is pouring forth from the Paris press. |
2. = sewerage 1, 2.
rare.
| 1834 Rep. Sel. Comm. Metrop. Sewers 136 The public have..built more sewage within the same level and the same term of years. Ibid. 182 Have you any communication to make..respecting the want of sewage in Holloway? 1850 Ogilvie, Sewerage, Sewage, The system of sewers or subterranean conduits for receiving and carrying off the superfluous water and filth of a city; as, the sewage of the city of London. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
sewage disposal,
sewage-outfall,
sewage-question,
sewage-water,
sewage-works;
sewage farm, a farm on which sewage irrigation is practised; so
sewage farming;
sewage grass, grass grown on land fertilized by sewage;
sewage irrigation, the system of disposing of liquid sewage by turning it on to land; so
sewage-irrigated a.;
sewage lagoon N. Amer. = lagoon1 4.
| 1873 Practitioner XI. 381 The health-aspect of *sewage disposal. 1939 Country Life 11 Feb. p. xxi/1 (Advt.), Sewage disposal for country houses, factories, farms, etc. 1978 J. Wainwright Thief of Time 29 The septic tank..forms part of the sewage-disposal system of the bungalow. |
| 1870 Corfield Treatm. Sewage 234 Examples of *Sewage Farms. |
| Ibid. 271 Influence of *Sewage-Farming on the public health. |
| 1888 Science 30 Mar. 156/1 *Sewage-grass is very inferior to normal herbage. |
| 1867 B. Latham Purif. Sewage 10 The *sewage-irrigated farm of Beddington. |
| 1870 Corfield Treatm. Sewage 237 Near Edinburgh, *sewage irrigation has been going on for the last 200 years. |
| 1930 S. H. Adams Mod. Sewage Disposal & Hygienics 472/2 (Index), *Sewage lagoon. 1958 Progress (Preeceville, Sask.) 28 May 1/6 Northwest of town the earthwork for the sewage lagoon has been completed. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 4-d/3 Froid's water, sewer and sewage-lagoon systems. |
| 1858 Prel. Rep. Comm. Sewage Towns 11 The present state of *sewage outfalls. |
| 1850 Mech. Mag. Aug. 177/1 The Metropolitan *Sewage question. |
| 1854 Bazalgette & Haywood Rep. to Metrop. Sewers Comm. 5 The commercial value of *sewage water, and the cost of its conversion into dry manure. |
| 1884 Punch 16 Feb. 82/1 The Vestry strongly object to *sewage-works being there erected. |
▪ II. sewage, v. (
ˈs(j)uːɪdʒ)
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To irrigate or fertilize with sewage.
| 1861 2nd Rep. Comm. Sewage Towns 24 Plot 2. To be irrigated with sewage at the rate of 3,000 tons per acre per annum. Plot 3. To be sewaged at the rate of 6,000 tons per acre per annum. 1880 [cf. sewaged 1]. |
2. To furnish with sewers, drain with sewers.
| 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Dec. 11/2 The streets..are badly paved, abominably sewaged [etc.]. 1887 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. |