Weir

//wɪə̯// name, noun

name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An adjustable dam placed across a river to regulate the flow of water downstream.

    "Though Hambleden's parish register records the death, in 1753, of a bargeman 'Kill'd by accident, shooting ye lock', the turbulent waters of Mill End weir on the River Thames, about a mile from the village, still attract canoeists."

  2. 2
    a low dam built across a stream to raise its level or divert its flow wordnet
  3. 3
    A fence placed across a river to catch fish.

    "The Taff is naturally a good salmon river, the Ely a sea trout river, but what with weirs and pollusions the fish have been pretty well exterminated."

  4. 4
    a fence or wattle built across a stream to catch or retain fish wordnet
  5. 5
    Seaweed. obsolete
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable
  2. 2
    A village in Rossendale borough, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD8725). countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A town and municipality in Bharatpur District, Rajasthan, India. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    An unincorporated village in Montcalm, Les Laurentides Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Cherokee County, Kansas. countable, uncountable
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A number of places in the United States:; A town in Choctaw County, Mississippi. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Williamson County, Texas. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
damaboideauair lockarch damavenuebackstop

Example

More examples

"There was a weir across the river here, but it never caught many fish."

Etymology

From Middle English were, from Old English wer, from werian (“to dam up”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”); Cognate with Old Norse ver (“station for fishing”), Sanskrit वृणोति (vṛṇóti). Related to warranty.

Related phrases

Bridge of WeirCountess WearPorlock WeirWeir Viewsleaky weirlock-weir

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.