geyser

Meanings

Noun

• A boiling natural spring which throws forth at frequent intervals jets of water, mud etc., driven up by the expansive power of steam.
• An instantaneous, and often dangerous, hot water heater.
• A domestic water boiler.

Verb

• To (cause to) rush or burst upward like water from a geyser.

Origin

• From the name of a particular Icelandic geyser which is mentioned as early as the 1760s in The Annual Register, as “Geyser, a wonderful spring in the valley of Haukadal”. From Geysir, the Icelandic name of the hot spring in Iceland (see Wikipedia), from the verb geysa, from Old Norse geysa ("to gush"). gusher.