body of water - the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean); "they invaded our territorial waters"; "they were sitting by the water's edge"thing - a separate and self-contained entity backwater - a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam; "the bayous and backwaters are breeding grounds for mosquitos" bay - an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf channel - a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels; "the ship went aground in the channel" drink - any large deep body of water; "he jumped into the drink and had to be rescued" estuary - the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix flowage - a body of water that has been created by deliberately flooding an area; "many campsites were located near the flowage" crossing, ford - a shallow area in a stream that can be forded gulf - an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay hydrosphere - the watery layer of the earth's surface; includes water vapor inlet, recess - an arm off of a larger body of water (often between rocky headlands) lake - a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land lake - a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land briny, main - any very large body of (salt) water mid-water - the water that is well below the surface but also well above the bottom; "many marine fishes inhabit the mid-waters" ocean - a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere ocean - a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere offing - the part of the sea that can be seen from the shore and is beyond the anchoring area; "there was a ship in the offing" puddle, pool - a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid; "there were puddles of muddy water in the road after the rain"; "the body lay in a pool of blood" river - a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek); "the river was navigable for 50 miles" sea - a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land seven seas - an informal expression for all of the oceans of the world; "the old salt had sailed the seven seas" sound - a large ocean inlet or deep bay; "the main body of the sound ran parallel to the coast" Earth's surface, surface - the outermost level of the land or sea; "earthquakes originate far below the surface"; "three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water" territorial waters - the waters surrounding a nation and its territories over which that nation exercises sovereign jurisdiction H2O, water - binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent |