waterworks

Plural: waterworks

Noun

• a public utility that provides water
• workplace where water is stored and purified and distributed for a community
• The water supply system of a district, town, city, or other place, including reservoirs, pipes, and pumps.
• Any single facility, such as a filtration plant or pumping station, within such a system.
• Often in the form turn on the waterworks: crying or tears, especially in a way that is considered manipulative or over-emotional.
• Rain.
• The genitourinary system.
• A hydraulic apparatus by which a supply of water is furnished for ornamental purposes; also, an ornamental fountain or waterfall.
• Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc.
• plural of waterwork

Examples

• "She is employed by a waterworks at the outskirts of the city."
• "She turned on the waterworks when we told her the old man was dead, but she was asking questions about the will soon enough."

Synonyms

water company, plumbing