Jerkwater

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈdÊ’Éšk.wÉ‘.tÉš/

Full definition of jerkwater

Noun

1. (US, historical) A train on a branch line.
• 1975, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 71, no. 1 (Mar. 1975), page 355… by bailing from near streams with buckets, (the brake-man called this operation jerking water) and from this the road gets its name of jerkwater road.

Adjective

1. (US, colloquial, pejorative) Of an inhabited place, small, insignificant, backward

Synonyms

• See:

Derived terms

• jerkwater town

Related terms

• jerk water
• jerk-water