weir
nounAU, UK /wɪə̯/ · US /wɪɹ/
Etymology From Middle English were, from Old English wer, from werian (“to dam up”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”); Cognate with Old Norse ver (“station for fishing”), Sanskrit वृणोति (vṛṇóti). Related to warranty.
1
An adjustable dam placed across a river to regulate the flow of water downstream.
- Though Hambleden's parish register records the death, in 1753, of a bargeman 'Kill'd by accident, shooting ye lock', the turbulent waters of Mill End weir on the River Thames, about a mile from the village, still attract canoeists.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, photo caption:
- The weir must not represent a physical barrier to fish migration, both locally and throughout the whole river system. If necessary, a fishway is included in the weir.1997, J. H. L'Abée-Lund, J. E. Brittain, “Weir construction as environmental mitigation in Norwegian hydropower schemes”, in Hydropower '97, pages 51–54:
1 more example
- A walkway over the weir is likely to be useful for the removal of floating debris trapped by the weir, or for working staunches and sluices on it as the rate of flow changes.2010, Sathesh Gopi, Basic Civil Engineering, page 303:
2
A fence placed across a river to catch fish.
- The Taff is naturally a good salmon river, the Ely a sea trout river, but what with weirs and pollusions the fish have been pretty well exterminated.1879, Annual Report of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, page 65:
- The weir catch of mackerel at Monomoy and along Cape Cod has been a failure.1887, W. A. Wilcox, “58-New England Fisheries in May, 1886”, in Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, volume VI, published 1886, page 191:
1 more example
- For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
3
Obsolete Seaweed.
- Derived terms
- Bridge of Weir, Countess Wear, leaky weir, lock-weir, Porlock Weir, unweired, wasteweir, weired, Weir Views
- Related terms
- Weirs Beach