A standpipe is a pipe that stands upright and gives water in the open air. Two situations use the word. In the street, a standpipe is a temporary tap the water company sets up for a neighbourhood — often when the household supply has failed or been cut during a drought, so people come out with buckets and queue. British news uses it this way regularly, and it carries a strong picture of hardship and shortage. In a building, a standpipe is a fixed vertical water pipe running up through the floors so that firefighters can connect a hose on any floor instead of dragging one up from the street; this is the everyday sense in fire safety and building codes, and it is more common in American usage. The word is plain and technical, not literary, and most learners meet it in news reports or on a sign rather than in conversation.

（街上臨時供水的）立式水管、給水栓；（大樓消防用的）消防豎管