Forms: α. 4–7 cysterne, cisterne, cestern(e, 5–6 cestren, 6 cestarne, 6–7 cestron, 4– cistern; β. 4 systerne, sisterne, 4–7 sesterne, 5 systern, 6 sestron, sestarne, sestourne, sesturn. [a. OF. cisterne (mod. citerne, cf. Sp. and It. citerna, Pr. cisterna):—L. cisterna a subterraneous reservoir, cistern, deriv. of cista box, basket, etc.: cf. caverna.]
1. An artificial reservoir for the storage of water; esp. a water-tight tank in a high part of a building, whence the taps in various parts of it are supplied.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8206. Þe king abute þam was ful gern, And putt þam [wandes] in-til a cistern.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxxvii. 22. Throw ȝe him into the olde sisterne, that is in wildernes.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 111. No welle is wiþ inne Jerusalem, but watres i-gadred, and i-kept in cisternes.
1387. E. E. Wills (1882), 2. Þe sesterne þat longeþ to the stuys.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (1841), 353. Paied to a carpenter for mendynge of a systern iij.d.
15[?]. Will, in Ripon Ch. Acts, 335. Oon sestron of leed.
1571. Digges, Pantom. (1591), 21. If your Sestourne or place be not to be seene at the Spring head.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, III. lvi. The towne is stor’d of troughes and cestrens, made To keepe fresh water.
1611. Bible, Jer. ii. 13. For my people haue committed two euils: they haue forsaken me, the fountaine of liuing waters, and hewed them our cisternes, broken cisternes that can hold no water.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. 13. They have Cesterns to receive the Rain water.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 296. On the top of it is a cistern … and from this reservoir the water is distributed all over the house.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 46. The consumption of lead for … cisterns … is very extensive.
2. Applied to various large vessels for water or liquor. † a. A vessel for washing in, a laver. Obs.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxv. § 16. Brazen Images which Salomon made to beare vp the Cesterne of the Temple.
1744. Armstrong, Art Preserv. Health, The gelid cistern.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 406. Beautiful cisterns of black and red marble with cocks for washing in.
† b. A large vessel or basin, often richly ornamented, used at the dinner-table. Obs.
(Dr. Mynors Bright, in note to quot. 1667, says ‘a cistern was formerly part of the furniture of a well-appointed dining-room: the plates were rinsed in it when necessary during the meal.’ But evidence of its purpose is wanting.)
1667. Pepys, Diary, 7 Sept. I to see the price of a copper cistern for the table, which is very pretty, and they demand £6 or £7 for one.
1695. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 563. A silver cystern, worth above £700, belonging to the princesse of Denmark, is stole from Berkley house.
1716. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett. Lady Rich, 16 Aug. I should also gladly see converted into silver a great St. Christopher, which I imagine would look very well in a cistern.
1884. Chr. World, 19 June, 458/1. What is called a ‘cistern’ of Palissy fetched 1,050 guineas.
c. A vessel or receptacle for holding a large supply of liquor.
1815. Nichols, Leicestersh., I. II. 128. An oval cistern of punch containing 50 gallons.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxi. (L.). A cistern containing a hundred and twenty gallons of punch was emptied to his Majesty’s health.
3. Applied to a pond, or a natural reservoir or depression containing water.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 95. So halfe my Egypt were submerg’d and made A cesterne for scal’d Snakes.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. iv. § 6. 547. Cisterns supposed to be in the earth, especially in mountains, which may keep a stream continually running.
1717. Berkeley, Tour Italy, 29 May. The wonderful fountain, which being in a great subterraneous grotto, runs into a cistern without ever filling it.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. 204. Lakes … are real reservoirs, or cisterns of water.
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. Hydrost., 37. The channels from which the subterranean cistern has been supplied.
4. Applied to a cavity, or vessel in an organism; formerly esp. to the fourth ventricle of the brain.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 478. The cauity which they call the Cisterne, yea … the fourth ventricle.
1675. Grew, Anat. Plants, III. II. i. § 15. The Bladders of the Parenchyma being … so many Cisterns of Liquor.
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Lumbar cistern, the Receptaculum chyli. Lymphatic cistern … the lymph sacs of the Amphibia.
5. fig. a. simply fig.
1587. Harrison, England, II. v. (1877), I. 132. Euerie vocation striveth with other which of them should have all the water of commoditie run into hir owne cesterne.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 63. The Cesterne of my Lust.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., iv. (1634), 32. She that filleth the Cisterne of his lavish expence, at the Vniversitie, or Innes of Court.
1713. Beveridge, Priv. Th., I. (1730), 32. And whence can such a continued Stream of Corruption flow, but from the corrupt Cistern of my Heart?
1822. Hazlitt, Men & Mann., Ser. II. viii. (1869), 167. Our universities are, in a great measure, become cisterns to hold, not conduits to disperse knowledge.
b. poetical extensions.
1594. Greene, Selimus, Wks. 1881–3, XIV. 247. How can Aga weepe?… Wanting the watry cesternes of his eyes?
a. 1625. Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsm., V. i. Makes the camp a cestron Brimm’d with the blood of men.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VI. xliv. Neptune’s cestern sucks in tribute tides.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., V. 523. Our fun’ral tears from diff’rent causes rise. As if from separate cisterns in the soul … they flow.
6. techn. in various senses, as in Malting, the water-tank in which grain is soaked; in barometers, etc., the mercury-cup; in steam-engines (see quot. 1849–50); in Mining, a tank in the mine-shaft into which a pump delivers water for another pump to raise; etc.
1702. Royal Proclm., 8 March, in Lond. Gaz., No. 3790/4. Every Cistern … or other Vessel … made use of for the Wetting or Steeping of Corn.
1708. Phillips, Cistern.… Among Confectioners, a portable Instrument in form of a Box, into which Jellies, Creams, &c. are put in order to be Iced.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Pendant Barometer … has no vessel or cistern.
1849–50. Weale, Dict. Terms, Cistern, in the steam engine, the vessel which surrounds the condenser, and contains the injection water.
1860. Adm. Fitz-Roy, in Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 358. The cistern of a barometer.
7. attrib. and in Comb., as cistern-bottom, -cock, -filter, -water, -well, -wheel, etc.; cistern-barometer, a barometer whose tube is immersed in a cup of mercury; cistern-pump (see quot.); cistern-work, masonry consisting of stones extending the entire thickness of the wall.
1566. in Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture, Lincolnsh. (1866), 112. Altar stones … turned … to a *cestron bottom.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Cistern-pump, a small pump … for pumping water from the moderate depth of a cistern.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 100. Asses … That tread the circuit of the *cistern wheel.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 156. Two Conduits … built with well chisseled Stone, in staunch *Cistern Work.
