i Register
In some senses, jerk-water is marked as derogatory, US, colloquial. Watch for register when choosing this word.
jerk-water
adj 2noun 1
Collocations
4ADJ.
dummy, tiny
VERB + JERK-WATER
back
JERK-WATER + NOUN
bobtail, college, connecticut, railroad
PREP.
in, on
Definitions
noun
1
A branch line train, using light equipment
The mail was brought by a tiny "jerk-water" bobtail dummy and coach run by one, Tony, from Pearl City, a mile away, to a station near the end of the peninsula.
adj
1
Of an inhabited place, small, isolated, backward.
That seems to disappoint them, for every sociologist likes to go back to some jerk-water college and tell those who are in the sociological class how they had to get their information by pantomime."
2
Railroads with low traffic.
He had risen to the head of the greatest street car system in the world from the position of brakeman on a jerk-water railroad.
Can the keen-minded Mr. Willard at Baltimore be more anxious than the keen-minded Mr. Rea at Philadelphia to undertake the management of jerk-water branches in Connecticut or in Rhode Island or down on Cape Cod ?
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
401
The mail was brought by a tiny "jerk-water" bobtail dummy and coach run by one, Tony, from Pearl City, a mile away, to a station near the end of the peninsula.
Wiktionary02
That seems to disappoint them, for every sociologist likes to go back to some jerk-water college and tell those who are in the sociological class how they had to get their information by pantomime."
Wiktionary03
He had risen to the head of the greatest street car system in the world from the position of brakeman on a jerk-water railroad.
Wiktionary04
Can the keen-minded Mr. Willard at Baltimore be more anxious than the keen-minded Mr. Rea at Philadelphia to undertake the management of jerk-water branches in Connecticut or in Rhode Island or down o
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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