water level

Noun

water level (plural water levels)

1. The level of a body of water, especially when measured above a datum line.
   • There is one feature of interest: at Rendsburg after a not too-easily graded ascent from the plain by means of an embankment, the train crosses the Kiel Canal by a double-track steel bridge 138 ft. above water-level, with, on a clear day, magnificent views over the countryside, and then loops round...1949 September and October, “The "Nord Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 337
2. The level of the water table below ground.
3. The waterline of a ship.
4. (also, attributive) (Relating to) an instrument to show the level by means of the surface of water in a trough, or in upright tubes connected by a pipe.
   • A water level indicator of the float type is provided.1957 October, “Modification of "West Country" Class Pacific”, in Railway Magazine, page 731
5. (attributive) Of a route that follows a riverbank or shoreline.
   • The water-level route, the whistle and the loud staccato exhaust of this great engine recalled most vividly memories of the New York Central Hudsons highballing along the Hudson River between Harmon and Albany!1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 613