Citations:a yard of pump water

as thin as a yard of pump water

 * see thin as a yard of pump water

so thin as a yard of pump water

 * see thin as a yard of pump water

as skinny as a yard of pump-water

 * 2008, Paulette Jiles, Stormy weather (ISBN 9780061672750):
 * She went to the front doors to see the three sisters start off down the road in the dry cool wind, carrying their soap and vinegar, and Jeanine the middle girl as skinny as a yard of pump water, and yet she was carrying the twenty-five-pound sack ...

as straight (meaning "straight"?) as a yard of pump-water

 * 1929, The Spectator:
 * ... the tug which was in attendance and which is almost always used by the biggest ships at this point. In the open, the instrument which records the course steered showed a line “as straight as a yard of pump water,” to use a nautical phrase.
 * 1964, The Fishing Gazette [New Series]:
 * Then I thought, "Even if your master can no longer handle you, you are not tired, and still very nearly as straight as a yard of pump water, get going, and give another angler happy angling days, and be the medium of adding what you are ..."
 * 2007, Frances Itani, Deafening, Open Road + Grove/Atlantic (ISBN 9781555846541):
 * I understand her; I just have to remind myself to adjust when we have a conversation. “Minnie's hair is as straight as a yard of pump water”— that's what Mamo says. Minnie makes me laugh. Every time we meet, she has a happy thing to say.

(as) straight unclear as a yard of pump-water (meaning unclear)

 * 1887, Giuseppe Mattei, Charles Wilkins (of Merthyr-Tydfil), The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales, page 394:
 * I called the doctor a fine fellow, and so he was — tall, square-chested, well made, firmly knit and straight as a yard of pump water, which he ought to be, seeing he was seven years in the army. Served through some of the principal fights
 * 1948, Time
 * Said a constituent: “That Margaret is straight as a yard of pump water.” On primary day last week, women trooped to the polls in unprecedented numbers. To the astonishment of almost every political observer, Mrs. Smith won.

other

 * 2006, Dale Hudson, Dance Of Death, Pinnacle Books (ISBN 9780786037773):
 * In 1954, Hurricane Hazel—as welcome as a yard of pump water—crashed into Carolina shores in the dark of night with wicked winds exceeding 130 miles per hour. As if they had been constructed from matchsticks, cottages and hotels along

like a yard of pump water (thin)

 * 1895, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 388:
 * There's a Pole there, too—a long thin girl, with a figure like a yard of pump water; and she has a frizz of hair like a bird's nest, and a dress which looks as if it were tied firmly round her. There is also a female there that we call the Camel,
 * 1981, Christine Hunt, Speaking a Silence, Raupo:
 * You didn't want to be like a yard of pump water .... We didn't have suppers at night, we'd always be in bed early. But we'd have quite a lot of morning and afternoon teas, always scones with sultanas or dates in them. You bought dates by the ...
 * 2008, Mai Griffin, A Poisonous Shade of Grey, U P Publications Ltd (ISBN 9780955744716), page 94:
 * Although tall, Joyce had been incredibly thin ... like a yard of pump water! The derogatory comment flitted through her head unbidden – but even so, Joyce's dead weight was almost too much. Thank heaven she didn't need the fork or spade ...

like a yard of pump water (something else to do with figure)

 * 2012, Tony Shephard S.B.St J., From Ragamuffins ... to Royalty: The Private Diaries of an Edwardian Nurse, Author House (ISBN 9781467897167):
 * She has a slight stoop and a 'rounded contour' while I have been described as 'going straight up and down like a yard of pump water'. One thing that was a continual source of joy to us both was Mrs M.'s idea that anxiety about her husband ...

up and down, like a yard of pump water (honest, serious, straightforward)

 * 1905, William Clark Russell, Jack's Courtship: A Sailor's Yarn of Love and Shipwreck, page 370:
 * “I know you of old — up and down like a yard of pump-water, Shilling, and you're there to pull me right if I go wrong.” “No fear of your going wrong, sir,” answered the bo'sun, heartily. “Ladies, it's not for me to speak with the gentleman himself ”
 * 1935, Edward Livermore Burlingame, Robert Bridges, Harlan Logan, Scribner's Magazine:
 * A thing that was honest was "straight up and down, like a yard of pump water." A clumsy fellow he referred to as "about as handy as a cow in a spit-kid." A man of whom he did not approve was a "pinch-gut," a "sea-swabber" or a

plural

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