irrigation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the artificial supply of water to land so that crops and other plants can grow

   A network of canals provides irrigation for farms in the dry valley.

2. 2
   noun

   medicine: the washing of a wound, organ, or body cavity with water or a therapeutic solution

   The nurse used saline irrigation to clean the wound.

Appears in

Borrowed through French irrigation from Latin irrigatio, from irrigare, 'to bring water to or water,' formed from in- + rigare, 'to water.' The agricultural sense is primary; medicine later applied the same idea of directed washing to wounds and body cavities.

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External links

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