waterworks

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See also: water works and water-works

English

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WOTD – 25 February 2021

Pronunciation

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Bethamangala water works (sense 2) in Bethamangala, Karnataka, India.

Etymology 1

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From water +‎ works (“machine, mechanism; factory or factories”).[1]

Noun

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waterworks (plural waterworks)

  1. The water supply system of a district, town, city, or other place, including reservoirs, pipes, and pumps.
  2. (treated as singular) Any single facility, such as a filtration plant or pumping station, within such a system.
    Hypernym: works
    Coordinate term: gasworks
    She is employed by a waterworks at the outskirts of the city.
  3. (figuratively)
    1. (informal) Often in the form turn on the waterworks: crying or tears, especially in a way that is considered manipulative or over-emotional.
      She turned on the waterworks when we told her the old man was dead, but she was asking questions about the will soon enough.
    2. (informal) Rain.
    3. (British, euphemistic) The genitourinary system.
      Synonym: (euphemistic, informal) plumbing
  4. (historical, treated as singular) A hydraulic apparatus by which a supply of water is furnished for ornamental purposes; also, an ornamental fountain or waterfall.
    • 1643 May 12 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 May 1643]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 30:
      Resolving to possess myself in some quiet if it might be, in a time of so great jealosy, I built by my Brother's permission a study, made a fishpond, an island, and some other solitudes and retirements, at Wotton, which gave the first occasion of improving them to those water-works and gardens which afterwards succeeded them.
  5. (construction, archaic) Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From waterwork +‎ -s.

Noun

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waterworks

  1. plural of waterwork

References

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  1. ^ Compare “waterwork, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2015; “waterwork, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; “waterworks, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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