Wath
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A ford. England, dialectal, historical
"The Romans had a bridge across the Eden near where the Caldew falls into the larger stream; had that bridge been in existence when this road or track was first made, its makers would have gone to the Roman bridge, and not to the deep and dangerous wath at Etterby. This ancient road and the ford at "Willie-of-the-Boats" were not superseded until[…]1816."
- 2 A fordable stream. obsolete
- 1 Ellipsis of Wath upon Dearne: a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE4300). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 2 A village and civil parish (served by Wath and Norton Conyers Parish Council) north of Ripon, North Yorkshire, England, previously in Harrogate borough, also known as Wath-by-Rippon (OS grid ref SE3277).
- 3 A hamlet, also known as Wath-in-Nidderdale, in Fountains Earth parish and High and Low Bishopside parish, North Yorkshire, previously in Harrogate borough (OS grid ref SE1467).
- 4 A hamlet in Hovingham parish, North Yorkshire, previously in Ryedale district (OS grid ref SE6775).
Example
More examples"The Romans had a bridge across the Eden near where the Caldew falls into the larger stream; had that bridge been in existence when this road or track was first made, its makers would have gone to the Roman bridge, and not to the deep and dangerous wath at Etterby. This ancient road and the ford at "Willie-of-the-Boats" were not superseded until[…]1816."
Etymology
From Middle English wath, from Old Norse vað (“a ford”). Cognate with Scots wath, Swedish vad. Related to wade.
From Old Norse vað (“ford”).
More for "wath"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.