English

Noun

jerk-water ‎(plural jerk-waters)

1. (rail transport, pejorative) A branch line train, using light equipment
   • 1918, Charmian London, Jack London and Hawaii, page 19

     The mail was brought by a tiny "jerk-water" bobtail dummy and coach run by one, Tony, from Pearl City, a mile away, to a station near the end of the peninsula.

Adjective

jerk-water ‎(comparative more jerk-water, superlative most jerk-water)

1. (US, colloquial, pejorative) Of an inhabited place, small, isolated, backward.
   • 1907, Charles Stelzle, Christianity's Storm Centre: A Study of the Modern City, page 103

     That seems to disappoint them, for every sociologist likes to go back to some jerk-water college and tell those who are in the sociological class how they had to get their information by pantomime."

2. (US, colloquial, pejorative, rail transport) Railroads with low traffic.
   • 1915, Daniel Jacob Hauer, The Economics of Contracting: A Treatise for Contractors, Engineers […], vol. II, page 212

     He had risen to the head of the greatest street car system in the world from the position of brakeman on a jerk-water railroad.

   • 1922, Edward Hungerford, Our Railroads To-morrow, page 297

     Can the keen-minded Mr. Willard at Baltimore be more anxious than the keen-minded Mr. Rea at Philadelphia to undertake the management of jerk-water branches in Connecticut or in Rhode Island or down on Cape Cod ?

Synonyms

• See: Wikisaurus:remote place

Related terms

• jerk water
• jerkwater