▪ I. cistern
(ˈsɪstən)
Forms: α. 4–7 cysterne, cisterne, cestern(e, 5–6 cestren, 6 cestarne, 6–7 cestron, 4– cistern; β. 4 systerne, sisterne, 4–7 sesterne, 5 systern, 6 sestron, sestarne, sestourne, sesturn.
[a. OF. cisterne (mod. citerne, cf. Sp. and It. citerna, Pr. cisterna):—L. cisterna a subterraneous reservoir, cistern, deriv. of cista box, basket, etc.: cf. caverna.]
1. An artificial reservoir for the storage of water; esp. a water-tight tank in a high part of a building, whence the taps in various parts of it are supplied.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8206 Þe king abute þam was ful gern, And putt þam [wandes] in-til a cistern. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxxvii. 22 Throw ȝe him into the olde sisterne, that is in wildernes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 111 No welle is wiþinne Jerusalem, but watres i-gadred, and i-kept in cisternes. 1387 E.E. Wills (1882) 2 Þe sesterne þat longeþ to the stuys. 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (1841) 353 Paied to a carpenter for mendynge of a systern iij.d. 15.. Will in Ripon Ch. Acts 335 Oon sestron of leed. 1571 Digges Pantom. (1591) 21 If your Sestourne or place be not to be seene at the Spring head. 1600 Fairfax Tasso iii. lvi, The towne is stor'd of troughes and cestrens, made To keepe fresh water. 1611 Bible Jer. ii. 13 Broken cisternes. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. 13 They have Cesterns to receive the Rain water. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 296 On the top of it is a cistern..and from this reservoir the water is distributed all over the house. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 46 The consumption of lead for..cisterns..is very extensive. |
2. Applied to various large vessels for water or liquor. † a. A vessel for washing in, a laver. Obs.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxv. §16 Brazen Images which Salomon made to beare vp the Cesterne of the Temple. 1744 Armstrong Art Preserv. Health, The gelid cistern. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 406 Beautiful cisterns of black and red marble with cocks for washing in. |
† b. A large vessel or basin, often richly ornamented, used at the dinner-table. Obs.
(Dr. Mynors Bright, in note to quot. 1667, says ‘a cistern was formerly part of the furniture of a well-appointed dining-room: the plates were rinsed in it when necessary during the meal’. But evidence of its purpose is wanting.)
| 1667 Pepys Diary 7 Sept., I to see the price of a copper cistern for the table, which is very pretty, and they demand {pstlg}6 or {pstlg}7 for one. 1695 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 563 A silver cystern, worth above {pstlg}700, belonging to the princesse of Denmark, is stole from Berkley house. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. Lady Rich 16 Aug., I should also gladly see converted into silver a great St. Christopher, which I imagine would look very well in a cistern. 1884 Chr. World 19 June 458/1 What is called a ‘cistern’ of Palissy fetched 1,050 guineas. |
c. A vessel or receptacle for holding a large supply of liquor.
| 1815 Nichols Leicestersh. i. ii. 128 An oval cistern of punch containing 50 gallons. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. (L.), A cistern containing a hundred and twenty gallons of punch was emptied to his Majesty's health. |
3. Applied to a pond, or a natural reservoir or depression containing water.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 95 So halfe my Egypt were submerg'd and made A cesterne for scal'd Snakes. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §6 Cisterns supposed to be in the earth, especially in mountains, which may keep a stream continually running. 1717 Berkeley Tour Italy 29 May, The wonderful fountain, which being in a great subterraneous grotto, runs into a cistern without ever filling it. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 204 Lakes..are real reservoirs, or cisterns of water. 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. Hydrost. 37 The channels from which the subterranean cistern has been supplied. |
4. Applied to a cavity, or vessel in an organism; formerly esp. to the fourth ventricle of the brain.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 478 The cauity which they call the Cisterne, yea..the fourth ventricle. 1675 Grew Anat. Plants iii. ii. i. §15 The Bladders of the Parenchyma being..so many Cisterns of Liquor. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Lumbar cistern, the Receptaculum chyli. Lymphatic cistern..the lymph sacs of the Amphibia. |
5. fig. a. simply fig.
| 1587 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 132 Euerie vocation striveth with other which of them should have all the water of commoditie run into hir owne cesterne. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 63 The Cesterne of my Lust. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. iv. (1634) 32 She that filleth the Cisterne of his lavish expense, at the Vniversitie, or Innes of Court. 1713 Beveridge Priv. Th. i. (1730) 32 A continued stream of Corruption..from the corrupt Cistern of my Heart. 1822 Hazlitt Men & Mann. Ser. ii. viii. (1869) 167 Our universities are, in a great measure, become cisterns to hold, not conduits to disperse knowledge. |
b. poetical extensions.
| 1594 Greene Selimus Wks. 1881–3 XIV. 247 How can Ag weepe?.. Wanting the watry cesternes of his eyes? a 1625 Fletcher Two Noble Kinsm. v. i, Makes the camp a cestron Brimm'd with the blood of men. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. xliv, Neptune's cestern sucks in tribute tides. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 523 Our fun'ral tears from diff'rent causes rise. As if from separate cisterns in the soul..they flow. |
6. techn. in various senses, as in Malting, the water-tank in which grain is soaked; in barometers, etc., the mercury-cup; in steam-engines (see quot. 1849–50); in Mining, a tank in the mine-shaft into which a pump delivers water for another pump to raise; etc.
| 1702 Royal Proclm. 8 Mar. in Lond. Gaz. No. 3790/4 Every Cistern..or other Vessel..made use of for the Wetting or Steeping of Corn. 1708 Phillips, Cistern..Among Confectioners, a portable Instrument in form of a Box, into which Jellies, Creams, etc. are put in order to be Iced. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Pendant Barometer..has no vessel or cistern. 1849–50 Weale Dict. Terms, Cistern, in the steam engine, the vessel which surrounds the condenser, and contains the injection water. 1860 Adm. Fitz-Roy in Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 358 The cistern of a barometer. |
7. attrib. and in Comb., as cistern-bottom, cistern-cock, cistern-filter, cistern-water, cistern-well, cistern-wheel, etc.; cistern-barometer, a barometer whose tube is immersed in a cup of mercury; cistern-pump (see quot.); cistern-work, masonry consisting of stones extending the entire thickness of the wall.
| 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture, Lincolnsh. (1866) 112 Altar stones..turned..to a *cestron bottom. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., *Cistern-pump, a small pump..for pumping water from the moderate depth of a cistern. |
| 1781 Cowper Hope 100, Asses..That tread the circuit of the *cistern wheel. |
| 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 156 Two Conduits..built with well chisseled Stone, in staunch *Cistern Work. |
▪ II. cistern, v. Now rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To enclose in, or fit with, a cistern. Also fig.
| 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 354/1 The conducting of Thames water, cesterning the same in lead, etc. 1598 Stow Surv. xxx. (1603) 267 The great conduit of sweete water..castellated with stone and cesterned in leade. 1881 Rossetti Ballads & Sonn. 223 Cisterned in Pride, verse is the feathery jet Of soulless air-flung fountains. |