ˈsea-water
1. The water of the sea, or water taken from the sea.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. (Rolls) II. 28 Celeþonian seaw & sæ⁓wæter. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 159 Þe tere þet mon wepð for his aȝen sunne is alse salt water, and þer fore hit is inemned see water. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 167 Wyth his hond wyth a lytyll schell he toke of þe see-watyr and powret into þat put. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxi. vii. II. 416 The salt made of sea-water. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 462 Sea water shalt thou drinke. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden xlvi. 90 On the Essex and Kentish shores, as far as the brackish Sea⁓water commeth. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 8 Aug. (1815) 282 Being drenched with sea-water. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xix. 6 The salt sea-water passes by. 1888 F. Hume Mme. Midas i. Prol., A rough blue suit of clothes, all torn and stained by sea-water. |
b. pl.
| 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece ii. iv. (1715) 222 If the Sea⁓waters could be procur'd, they were preferr'd before all others. 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea xv. 308 The iridescence of the sea-waters is most generally produced by living light⁓bearers. |
c. attrib. and Comb.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 86 Tell me precisely of what complexion? Boy. Of the sea-water Greene sir. 1596 Will in Longman's Mag. Apr. (1905) 534 My see-water colored green cloke. |
† 2. A precious stone, the aquamarine 1. Obs.
| [1598: cf. aquamarine 1.] 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 235 Round stones called Cornioli, of yellow colour and others of white, called the Sea-water of India. |