waterhole
Appearance
See also: water-hole and water hole
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]- water + hole.
- (astronomy): Coined by Bernard Oliver in 1971, in allusion to the idea that this part of the spectrum would be that used by extraterrestrial intelligence to communicate.
Noun
[edit]waterhole (plural waterholes)
- A depression in which water collects, especially one where wild animals come to drink.
- 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 268:
- From habit the sheep would head for the river, but, though it was early spring, the winter had been droughty, and the river was only a string of dangerous water-holes.
- (informal) A watering hole; a place where people meet to drink and talk.
- (astronomy) A part of the electromagnetic spectrum, between the regions where hydrogen and hydroxyl radiate, that is relatively quiet in terms of radio astronomy.
Translations
[edit]depression in which water collects
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part of the electromagnetic spectrum
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