[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/cistern.html) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The Judaism dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/) / cistern [← C](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/C/) # cistern «cistern» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **The tank above or behind a toilet that holds water for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it. ### part of speech noun (cistern, cisterns) ### meaning for a pupil 1) The tank above or behind a toilet that holds water for flushing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#m1) 2) A tank, often in the loft or under the ground, that stores water for a house or building. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#m2) 3) In old times and dry places, a large underground pool or tank for collecting rainwater. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#m3) ### sense in the lessons In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it is a pit cut in rock to hold rainwater. The prophets and Proverbs use it as a picture: your own cistern means your own wife or home, and Jeremiah calls idols broken cisterns that hold no water. Interpretation: Laws say a cistern with a gathering of water stays clean even if a dead creature falls into it. Tradition sees this as water's special power to purify. Jeremiah is read as saying that Israel left God, the fountain of living waters, for useless idols. In the primary lessons: In everyday life the cistern is the part of the toilet that fills after you flush; plumbers fix «a leaking cistern». In science and geography it connects to water storage and saving rainwater in dry countries. In history, ancient cities such as Istanbul had huge underground cisterns. Phrases: «toilet cistern», «cold-water cistern», «the cistern is refilling». ### examples - Nevertheless a fountain or a cistern wherein is a gathering of water shall be clean; but he who toucheth their carcass shall be unclean. (Torah LEV.11.36, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x1) - and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou the didst not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied — (Torah DEU.6.11, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x2) - Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. (Writings PRO.5.15, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x3) - As a cistern welleth with her waters, so she welleth with her wickedness; violence and spoil is heard in her; before Me continually is sickness and wounds. (Prophets JER.6.7, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x4) - For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Prophets JER.2.13, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x5) - The toilet will not flush until the cistern fills up again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x6) - Dad lifted the lid of the cistern to fix the chain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x7) - The cold-water cistern is up in the loft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x8) - The ancient city kept rainwater in a great stone cistern. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x9) - We visited a huge underground cistern with hundreds of columns. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x10) - Water dripped from the cistern all night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x11) - On the farm, a cistern collects rain from the roof. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/#x12) ### note Countable: one cistern, two cisterns. Do not confuse with «sister» or «system». A cistern stores water; a «tank» is a more general word. In maths problems a cistern is often the container being filled or emptied: if a pipe fills it at 5 litres a minute, a 60-litre cistern takes 12 minutes. ### In the corpora - [Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.132/) ### Trees and pragmatics [Every meaning and example of «cistern» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cistern/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.