Acre-foot Definition & Meaning

American

British

Etymology

Examples

acre-foot American [ey-ker-foot] / ˈeɪ kərˈfʊt /

noun

1. a unit of volume of water in irrigation: the amount covering one acre to a depth of one foot, equal to 43,560 cubic feet.

acre-foot British

noun

1. the volume of water that would cover an area of 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot: equivalent to 43 560 cubic feet or 1233.5 cubic metres

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of acre-foot

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In California, Arizona and Nevada, the federal government supplies more than 7 million acre-feet of water, about 14 times the total water usage of Los Angeles, for less than $1 per acre-foot.

From Los Angeles Times

Many farmers decided that the payments — $300 per acre-foot of water conserved — would pencil out for them this year, in part because hay prices have recently fallen.

From Los Angeles Times

The legislation increases fines for violations of state water curtailment to as much as $10,000 per day, plus $2,500 for each acre-foot of water diverted.

From Los Angeles Times

State officials also compared the costs of additional supplies from the tunnel, at $1,325 per acre-foot, to the costs of additional supplies through investments in desalination, wastewater recycling, stormwater capture and conservation.

From Los Angeles Times

An acre-foot is roughly enough to serve two to three U.S. households annually.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.