Waterworks
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The water supply system of a district, town, city, or other place, including reservoirs, pipes, and pumps.
- 2 plural of waterwork form-of, plural
- 3 workplace where water is stored and purified and distributed for a community wordnet
- 4 Any single facility, such as a filtration plant or pumping station, within such a system.
"She is employed by a waterworks at the outskirts of the city."
- 5 a public utility that provides water wordnet
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 Often in the form turn on the waterworks: crying or tears, especially in a way that is considered manipulative or over-emotional. figuratively, informal
"She turned on the waterworks when we told her the old man was dead, but she was asking questions about the will soon enough."
- 7 Rain. figuratively, informal
- 8 The genitourinary system. British, euphemistic, figuratively
- 9 A hydraulic apparatus by which a supply of water is furnished for ornamental purposes; also, an ornamental fountain or waterfall. historical
"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."
- 10 Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc. archaic
Example
More examples"The waterworks is located not far from my home."
Etymology
From water + works (“machine, mechanism; factory or factories”).
From waterwork + -s.
Related phrases
More for "waterworks"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.