waterproofadj/ˈwɔːtəˌpruːf/

• 1

  Resistant to the effects of water.

• 2

  Made of or covered with material that doesn't allow water in; impervious to water and immune to its effects.

  • The captain did a safety drill. This covered where the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was located, how to make a mayday call, and where the fire extinguishers were. A crew member demonstrated how to put on an immersion suit. These survival suits are waterproof full-body garments with a hood and integral three-finger gloves and boots. They are bulky and hard to get on but far more likely to save your life in cold water than a lifejacket.
• 3

  Incapable of failing; unassailable.

  • The only waterproof plan and the one increasingly adopted by leading trades is the consolidation of the interests of all parties in a scheme of amalgamation.
  • Especially within an international framework, guarding this process is of the utmost importance. The eyes of the world are focussed on the action at hand and demand a waterproof plan and execution.
• 4

  Not dependent on an aquatic environment to live; thus, able to live on dry land, or at least in a semiaquatic environment.

  • At the time the Burgess Shale was laid down, life on land was pretty unexciting – there were a few primitive clubmosses and liverworts growing in wet areas near water, but little else. There would also have been a strand-line of washed-up plants and animals, edible detritus that was tantalisingly out of reach of the water-bound animals of the day. Inevitably, before long some arthropods began to drag themselves ashore to take advantage of these untapped resources. Their external skeletons, which perhaps originally evolved as a defence against predators, helped to support their bodies on land, giving them an edge in colonisation there over soft-bodied sea animals such as jellyfish and worms. To start with, these animals would presumably have been poorly waterproofed and had to return to water very regularly to prevent themselves drying out; or they would have had to stay in the dampest places, amongst rotting weed or damp moss. […] As the plants slowly adapted to life on land and spread away from the seas, they also grew taller as the competition for light intensified. To follow them, the animals had to improve their waterproofing. Some animal groups never really got the hang of this; for example, the few crustaceans that successfully invaded land, such as woodlice, are restricted to damp places to this day. Others, such as arachnids, evolved more-or-less waterproof cuticles and eggs, so that they were able to leave water far behind and occupy even the most inhospitable, arid environments on Earth.

waterproofverb/ˈwɔːtəˌpruːf/

• 1

  To make waterproof or water-resistant.

  • The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).

waterproofnoun/ˈwɔːtəˌpruːf/

• 1

  A substance or preparation for rendering cloth, leather, etc., impervious to water.

• 2

  Cloth made waterproof, or any article made of such cloth, or of other waterproof material, as rubber; especially, an outer garment made of such material.

  • Carrados dropped the near window as a man in glistening waterproof stepped from the shelter of a lich-gate and approached.