As streams were few in Palestine, water was generally stored up in winter in reservoirs, and distributed through gardens in numerous rills, which could easily be turned or diverted by the foot (Deuteronomy 11:10).

For purposes of irrigation, water was raised from streams or pools by water-wheels, or by a shaduf, commonly used on the banks of the Nile to the present day.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

(n.) The act or process of irrigating, or the state of being irrigated; especially, the operation of causing water to flow over lands, for nourishing plants.