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Glite Dictionary
🚰 Water controller 🔧 A water valve
turncock

turncock

9.9
A person who controls water mains by turning them on and off
  • noun
  • /ˈtɜːnkɒk/
  • Archaic
translation icon : fontanero
  • In a contemporary complaint by a Battersea resident, the question is raised as to why it should "be a sin for a turncock to turn on the water during the same hours as the potman cries his beer" (The Times, August 29, 1854).

Examples

  • After checking the main valve, the turncock turned off the water supply to prevent any leaks during maintenance.

  • The turncock ensured that the water supply was restored to the neighborhood after the repairs were completed.

  • During the drought, the turncock was responsible for regulating the water usage across the residential areas.

Surface Forms

turncock singular
turncocks plural

Morphology

turncock = turn + cock (semi-transparent) = turn + cock

The compound is compositionally 'turn' + 'cock', but the sense 'cock' = 'valve/tap' is somewhat specialized or archaic and may be unfamiliar to many learners.

Etymology

Turncock comes from the idea of someone who turns a cock, an old word for a 'valve' or 'tap'. So a turncock was the person whose job was to turn the valve to start or stop the water.