borehole, noun

Origin:
EnglishShow more Transferred use of general English borehole a hole drilled as an ancillary process in mining, oil drilling, etc.
A well drilled to tap underground water and furnished with a windmill, an engine, or occasionally a hand-pump to bring the water to the surface. Also attributive.
Note:
A common feature in gardens and on farms in dry areas.
1911 Farmer’s Weekly 15 Mar. 4The water supply comes from a 16ft. windmill over a borehole tested to yield at least 96,000 gallons of water per day, and this water is pumped into a cement reservoir.
1920 R.H. Lindsey-Renton Diary (1979) 30Every farm and nearly every house in the dorps have had a bore hole made with a pump driven by a windmill erected on it so that as long as the wind blows they can get a fairly good supply of water.
1946 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 121In time of drought..you have been standing at the borehole all day, pumping water for the cattle, so that by the evening water has got a bitter taste for you.
1978 A.P. Brink Rumours of Rain 195The borehole is getting weaker too. There’s a man coming today to look for water. Perhaps we can sink a new hole.
1982 Rhodeo (Rhodes Univ.) 6 Apr. 8The water is supplied by a poor borehole service — as opposed to the permanent river that presently feeds Mgwali.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 302Every few hundred metres, clustered like ticks round borehole windmills, were settlements of mud-brick houses and corrugated iron lean-tos.
A well drilled to tap underground water and furnished with a windmill, an engine, or occasionally a hand-pump to bring the water to the surface. Also attributive.
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Border, nounn.borer, nounn.
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