Meaning

7 senses
  1. The water supply system of a district, town, city, or other place, including reservoirs, pipes, and pumps.

    Wasserwerk, Wasserkunst, Wasserversorgung

  2. 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.

    Wasserwerk, Wasseraufbereitungsanlage

  3. (figuratively, 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.

    Geheul, Tränen

  4. (figuratively, informal)Rain.

  5. (UK, euphemistic, figuratively)The genitourinary system.

  6. (historical)A hydraulic apparatus by which a supply of water is furnished for ornamental purposes; also, an ornamental fountain or waterfall.

    Wasserkunst

  7. (archaic)Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc.

More definitions
  • workplace where water is stored and purified and distributed for a community
  • a public utility that provides water

Examples

1 sentences
  1. The waterworks is located not far from my home.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · marco87 · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

4 languages
Deutsch
By meaning 3
water supply system of a district, town, city, or other place:
any single facility, such as a filtration plant or pumping station, within such a system:
crying or tears, especially in a way that is considered manipulative or over-emotional:

Origin

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

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

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: waterworks

Synonyms

2 synonyms
Close in meaning

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
waterworks — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto