bowser: mobile water dispenser

[Mark Mandel]

Not in OED. Closest sense is bowser2, 'petrol pump or tanker'; see below.
This can be subsumed as a transference, but it's outside the chiefly
antipodean usage area. This came to my attention via a former colleague, who
wrote:

>>>

I nearly got flooded out in Cheltenham. Ironically we are now without a
water supply! As a consequence, the word  "bowser" has entered the common
vocabulary of over 300,000 people.

<<<

He provided a link to this article:

>>>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6916665.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 July 2007, 22:34 GMT 23:34 UK

Emergency water supplies run low

Water company bosses have asked the government for urgent help in providing
clean supplies to flood-hit Gloucester, amid fears they are running out.

Severn Trent Water says 350,000 people are without tap water and it could be
two weeks before supplies are restored.

[picture of a bowser]

Many residents say they have struggled to find any mobile street dispensers
- known as bowsers - with water in them.

<<<
>>>

OED bowser(2):
[Trade name.]
    A petrol pump (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.); also, a petrol tanker used
for fuelling aircraft, tanks, etc. Also transf.

m a m

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