1. Any plant of the genus Hydrophyllum.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 331. Water-leaf, Hydrophyllum.
2. Arch. An ornament used in sculptured capitals, supposed to be a conventionalized representation of the leaf of some aquatic plant.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven., I. xxvii. § 29. Where the Byzantines use the acanthus, the Lombards use the Persepolitan water-leaf.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), I. 120. Most of [the capitals] are of the simple water-leaf form so prevalent in the north of England.
1912. F. Bond, Cathedrals, 90. The voluted water-leaf of the capitals [in the Galilee at Durham].
3. (See quots.)
1854. C. Tomlinson, Obj. Art-Manuf., Paper, 25. When dry, it is complete paper, but of the kind called waterleaf, which will absorb liquids too freely, and therefore cannot be written on.
1855. Herring, Paper & Paper Making, 64. First, we have what is termed the water-leaf, or the condition in which the paper appears after being pressed between the felts—this is the first stage.
1863. Technologist, III. 393. The transformation of water-leaf, or unsized paper, into a material in exact resemblance to parchment, is one of the chemical facts of the last few years.
