Waters of the Atlantic: why 'waters'?

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me why plural?

Waters of the Atlantic?

Tom

[Haihao]

I would guess it refers to (a) particular stretch(s) or area(s) of the ocean. Just a few other examples:

waters along the coast are calm
waters famed for vicious assaults by pirates
waters of United States (this may refer to rivers)
British waters
waters of forgetfulness (this may be beyond our reach for the moment)

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

'Waters' has more the sense of expanse or extent as Haihao has indicated with his examples, often when reference is made to that part of an ocean where countries dispute whether it belongs to them or another country. The singular 'water' refers more to that substance we put into a bottle.

Alan
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