Library / English Dictionary

IRRIGATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(medicine) cleaning a wound or body organ by flushing or washing out with water or a medicated solution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("irrigation" is a kind of...):

medical aid; medical care (professional treatment for illness or injury)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "irrigation"):

eye-drop; eyedrop (a method of irrigating the eye used by ophthalmologists)

douche (irrigation with a jet of water or medicated solution into or around a body part (especially the vagina) to treat infections or cleanse from odorous contents)

clyster; enema (an injection of a liquid through the anus to stimulate evacuation; sometimes used for diagnostic purposes)

lavage (washing out a hollow organ (especially the stomach) by flushing with water)

Derivation:

irrigate (supply with a constant flow or sprinkling of some liquid, for the purpose of cooling, cleansing, or disinfecting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Supplying dry land with water by means of ditches etc

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("irrigation" is a kind of...):

provision; supply; supplying (the activity of supplying or providing something)

Derivation:

irrigate (supply with water, as with channels or ditches or streams)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Although often naturally occurring, these contaminants have made their way into water supplies and, via irrigation, into the food chain.

(Experts warn of cardiovascular risk from heavy metal pollution, University of Cambridge)

The 60,000 newly discovered structures include raised highways, urban centers with sidewalks, homes, terraces, industrial-sized agricultural fields, irrigation canals, ceremonial centers, a 30-meter high pyramid, fortresses and moats.

(Hidden Mayan Civilization Revealed in Guatemala Jungle, VOA)

Farther downhill, farmers grow coconut palms, which require less irrigation and don't raise the water table as much.

(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)

This is especially a problem in Bangladesh, where it is estimated that groundwater pumped from shallow aquifers for irrigation adds one million kilograms of arsenic per year to arable soil.

(Parboiling husked rice reduces arsenic content, SciDev.Net)

Also called irrigation.

(Lavage, NCI Dictionary)

“It reduces irrigation needs by 50% of the cycle.”

(New Brazilian fertilizer can boost productivity, Agência BRASIL)

The filtered water was not safe to drink, but was usable for agricultural irrigation and household chores.

(Soil-based filter bricks clean up water for Moroccan farmers, SciDev.Net)

People in the Sonoran Desert and Tonto Basin, in what is today Arizona, were more culturally advanced, with irrigation, ball courts, and eventually elevated platform mounds and compounds housing elite families.

(Scientists chart a baby boom in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D., NSF)