low water

low water (countable and uncountable, plural low waters)

1. The location of low tide in a coastal area.
   • 1953 February, H. A. Vallance, “To Brighton through the Shoreham Gap”, in Railway Magazine, page 82:

     The railway then follows the widening estuary of the river, which at high tide has the appearance of a lake, but at low water presents a rather cheerless expanse of dark mud.

2. The lowest stage of a river.
3. The temporary situation of having little money.

• LW

• high water

• low-water mark

• at a low ebb

• (having little money): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary