geyser English · revision 1896

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɡiː.zə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɡaɪ.zɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is named after ''Geysir'', a particular hot spring in the Haukadal valley in southwest Iceland,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) literally “the gusher”,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from Icelandic ''geysa'' “to gush”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|non|geysa|t=to gush]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) It is related to Old English ''gēotan'' “to pour”.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An intermittent hot spring that throws up a column of water (1763 in the OED, 1780 in Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Foreign writers took the name of this one spring as the general name for spouting hot springs,^(Etymonline) for which Icelandic itself has other words.^(Etymonline) In 1878 the name was given to an apparatus for heating water quickly, attached to a bath;^(OED 1989) in this sense it is chiefly British and often pronounced differently.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) The verb, to gush forth like a geyser, is recorded by Random House.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1755–65 – Random House's dating.^(RHWU)

+ * 1763 – an intermittent hot spring (OED).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1780 – Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1878 – a water heater.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A natural [[hot spring]] that from time to time throws up a column of hot water and [[steam]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(chiefly British)'' A gas-fired [[water heater]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A sudden jet of liquid shooting upward.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To gush or spurt upward like a geyser.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[geyseral]]

+ * [[geyserite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gush]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}