reservoir

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈrez.əv.wɑː/, US /ˈrez.ɚv.wɑːr/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réservoir (“storehouse”),^[2][3][4] from réserver (“to reserve”) and the suffix -oir,^[2][4][5] from Latin reservō (“to keep back, save up”) (see reserve).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figuratively, a place where something is collected or tends to collect: 1690 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, the 1680s in Etymonline.^[6][2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

A receptacle in which water is collected and stored is from 1705, in Addison.^[2][6] A tank or cistern for water and a part of a plant or animal holding a fluid are from the 1720s–30s,^[6] and a natural place where water collects from the 1730s–40s.^[6] A body of porous rock holding oil or natural gas is from 1912.^[6]

Timeline

• 1690 – a figurative store.^[6][2]
• 1705 – a water reservoir.^[2][6]
• 1727–38 – a cistern; a store of fluid in a body.^[6]
• 1912 – an oil or gas reservoir.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A natural or artificial lake used to store water for a community or for irrigation.
2. A tank or chamber for storing a fluid.
3. An underground accumulation of oil or natural gas.
4. A large supply or store of something.

Related words

• reserve
• reservation
• conserve

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press