Cistern

Definitions

1. A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.
2. In a flush toilet, the container in which the water used for flushing is held; a toilet tank.
3. A shallow, typically oval, vessel made of porcelain, pottery, or glass.
4. The receptacle that holds the fuel in an oil lamp.
5. A cisterna.
6. The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.

Equivalents

Examples

“1913, A.C. Cotter, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wells in Scripture", Their extreme necessity is attested by the countless number⟳ of old, unused cisterns with which the Holy Land⟳ is literally honeycombed.”

“On a broad ledge near the top, we found a stone cabin. Higher up was a cistern and a few more terraces.”

“Cisterns (bôr, bō'r), mentioned frequently in the Bible, are artificial reservoirs, usually cut⟳ into bedrock, for collecting and conserving rain⟳ runoff from roofs and courtyards.”

“It is possible to connect⟳ your tank to your toilet cistern and/or garden, so that even if the water is not drinkable it still can be used productively to make⟳ major water savings.”

“By next winter he was spending every evening poring over the work⟳ of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné on the French Reformation by the light⟳ of a little oil lamp, with a tiny cistern the size of an orange and no chimney[.]”

CEFR level