ouse

O1U1S1E1
/uːz/

proper noun

Various rivers in England.

OriginOld English Usa ← Proto-Celtic *udso- ← Proto-Indo-European *wed- →
UncommonScrabble 4
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Meanings

ouse1

nounouse (countable and uncountable, plural ouses)

plural ouses

  1. countableobsoleteuncountableObsolete spelling of ooze.
verbouse (third-person singular simple present ouses, present participle ousing, simple past and past participle oused)

present singular third person ouses · participle present ousing · participle past oused · past oused

  1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of ooze.

Ouse2

proper noun
  1. Various rivers in England.

    Here Ouse, slow-winding through a level plain Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o’er, Conducts the eye along his sinuous course Delighted.

    1786 [1834], William Cowper, The Task Book 1 in Poems, 254
    1. River Ouse, Yorkshire: A river in North Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire.
    2. River Ouse, Sussex: A river in both West Sussex and East Sussex.
    3. River Great Ouse, Northamptonshire and East Anglia.
    4. River Little Ouse, a tributary of the River Great Ouse.
  2. A locality in Central Highlands Council, central Tasmania, Australia.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wed-“water”
  2. Proto-Celtic*udso-
  3. Old EnglishUsa
  4. EnglishOuse

From Old English Usa, probably of Romano-British Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *udso-, from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”).

More words from Old English, Proto-Celtic, Proto-Indo-European

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ouse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ouse

MLA

“ouse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ouse. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ouse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ouse.

Source: ouse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.