The line or level reached by the tide at low-water; a mark set up to indicate this. (Cf. HIGH-WATER-MARK.)

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1526.  in Dillon, Customs of Pale (1892), 87. Anie wrak rivinge or drivinge in the sea without the Lowe water marke.

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1629.  H. C., Drayning Fennes, C ij. When the out-fals shall bee opened to Low water marke.

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1776.  G. Semple, Building in Water, 2. 2 Inches above the Low-water Mark…. 8 Inches above Low-water Mark.

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1783.  Page, in Phil. Trans., LXXIV. 16. It continued in vast quantity almost to the spring tide low-water-mark.

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1880.  Geikie, Phys. Geog., iii. § 17. 154. The lower limit of the beach or low-water mark.

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  b.  fig. The lowest point reached in number, quality, quantity, intensity, etc.

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1651.  N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xxxvii. (1739), 167. The state of Learning and Holiness was now at the low-water mark.

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1745.  H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), II. 9. My ink is at low water-mark for all my acquaintance.

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1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, viii. I’m at low-water-mark myself—only one bob and a magpie.

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1890.  Spectator, 29 March. Destroying the truths of which most social conventions are the low-water mark.

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