jerkwater

adjective

jerk·​wa·​ter ˈjərk-ˌwȯ-tər 

-ˌwä-

1

: remote and unimportant

jerkwater towns

2

: trivial

Did you know?

We owe the colorful Americanism jerkwater to the invention of the steam engine—an advancement that significantly accelerated travel by rail but also had its drawbacks. One drawback was that the boilers of the early locomotives needed to be refilled with water frequently, and water tanks were few and far between. As a result, the small trains that ran on rural branch lines often had to stop to take on water from local supplies. Such trains were commonly called jerkwaters from the motion of jerking the water up in buckets from the supply to the engine. The derogatory use of jerkwater for things unimportant or trivial reflects attitudes about the small middle-of-nowhere towns connected by the lines on which these jerkwater trains typically ran.

Word History

Etymology

from jerkwater rural train

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

jerkwater

adjective

jerk·​wa·​ter ˈjər-ˌkwȯt-ər 

-ˌkwät-

: small, rural, and unimportant

jerkwater towns