Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Brook

BROOK, a little river, or small current of water. It is distinguished from a river by this circumstance, that in general it has a current only at particular seasons, whereas a river flows throughout the year.

Considerable damage is sometimes occasioned by the overflow of brooks, in consequence of sudden and heavy falls of rain. An inundation is caused by a stoppage of the water in its course, which prevents it from running off as fast as it comes in; consequently, if the channel for the efflux be larger than that for the influx, the water will not overflow the banks. Thus, by opening the channel of the river Welland, at Harborough, in Leicestershire, to a considerable distance below the bridge, the river has never since overflowed the town, as it formerly did after sudden rain.

The legislature has enforced the clearing of the channels of brooks near turnpike-roads, by enacting, that the commissioners shall give notice in writing, to the overseers of the highways, of the several parishes through which such brooks or rivers flow, to open their respective channels, that the water may have free passage.