Westbourne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small river in west London that now flows mostly in underground culverts ; an affluent residential neighbourhood in the west of the city
2. A buried watercourse running beneath west London streets ; a fashionable district of London known for its shops and homes
3. An underground stream in the western part of London ; a well-to-do residential area in the western reaches of the capital

Etymology: Westbourne is a compound of two Old English words: "west", the direction, and "burna", meaning a stream or brook, which survives in English as "bourne". Put together, the name simply means "western stream," a label that makes sense once you know the watercourse it names. The Westbourne was a real stream in west London, rising near Hampstead and Kilburn and flowing south toward the Thames. Over the centuries it was gradually built over and diverted into underground sewers, so the water still flows but the stream itself has vanished from sight. The word now names that buried waterway, which is why it sounds like a place name yet describes a watercourse nobody can see.