''hydraulic'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''hydraulic'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

hydraulic - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

hydraulic (not comparable)

• Pertaining to water. [from early 17th c.]
  • ✤ Tho’ there are but seventeen feet water${}^{[sic]}$ in the channel, I have seen vessels of five hundred ton enter into it. I know not why this entrance is left so neglected, as we are not in want of able engineers in France, in the hydraulic branch, a part of the mathematics to which I have most applyed${}^{[sic]}$ myself.¹
• Related to, or operated by, hydraulics.
  • ✤ A hydraulic press is operated by the differential pressure of water on pistons of different dimensions.

Verb

hydraulic (third-person singular simple present hydraulics, present participle hydraulicking, simple past and past participle hydraulicked)

• (transitive) To mine using the technique of hydraulic mining.

Etymology

From French hydraulique, from Latin hydraulicus, from Ancient Greek ὑδραυλικός (hudraulikós, “of a water organ”), from ὕδραυλις (húdraulis, “water organ”), from ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”) +‎ αὐλός (aulós, “pipe”).²

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /haɪˈdɹɒlɪk/
• (US) IPA: /haɪˈdɹɔːlɪk/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1757, Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, page 47: ↩

2. Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “hydraulic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. ↩

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