catch-basin

• catchbasin
• catch basin

catch-basin (plural catch-basins)

1. A cistern or vault at the point where a street gutter discharges into a sewer, to catch bulky matter that would not pass readily through the sewer.

   Synonyms: catchpit, storm drain

   • 1862, Chicago City, Annual Report of the Board of Public Works to the Common Council:

     There has been expended, during the year, in the three districts, for repairs of sewers and catch basins, for altering man holes and catch basin covers to suit changes of grade of the streets […]

• “catch-basin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.