Edit page | Page history | Printable version

watershed

1. The whole region or extent of country which contributes to the supply of a river or lake.

2. The line of division between two adjacent rivers or lakes with respect to the flow of water by natural channels into them; the natural boundary of a basin.

Origin: Cf. G. Wasserscheide; wasser water _ scheide a place where two things separate, fr. Scheiden to separate.