[f. prec. adj.] trans. To make waterproof or impervious to water.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 147/1. This … is the varnish now generally employed in waterproofing the garments well known by the name of Mackintoshes.
1843. Mech. Mag., XXXIX. 479. Sylvester’s Mode of Waterproofing Walls.
1862. Jrnl. Soc. Arts, X. 330/2. The oil sheet manufacturers have for more than a century waterproofed linen by layers of oil.
1894. Blackmore, Perlycross, xxxv. The Chancel roof which had only been patched up temporarily and waterproofed with thick tarpaulins.
1905. D. Wallace, Lure of Labrador Wild, iii. 53. The tent was of the type known as miner’s, 61/2 × 7 feet, made of balloon silk and waterproofed.
b. transf. and fig.
1841. Lever, O’Malley, lxix. 342. If one did’nt expect to be waterproofed [meaning killed in battle] before morning they really would’nt go out in such weather.
1891. Sir H. Maxwell, in Blackw. Mag., Oct., 552/1. He [Balzac] was wonderfully waterproofed against despondency by the intense realism of his fancy.
