Crossword Genius

A mouthful of water (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

delta

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'water' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both natural objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'a mouthful' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'delt' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for delta that I've seen before include "Spreading river mouth" , "Multiple estuary" , "River mouth in the Greek alphabet" , "Fourth letter of the ancient Greek alphabet: river feature" , "Greek letter in the shape of a triangle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail, The Telegraph and The Guardian.
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