waterworkn.
/ˈwɔːtəˌwəːk/, U.S. /ˈwɔdərˌwərk/, /ˈwɑdərˌwərk/ 1.
a. A mechanism for raising, conveying, or distributing water.The waterwork referred to in quot. 1596 and several 17th-cent. quots. was a high building erected near Queenhithe in the City of London in 1593–5 by Sir Bevis Bulmer (d. 1613), containing a pump ‘to conuey Thames water into mens houses of west Cheape, about Powles, Fleetestreete &c.’ ( J. Stow Suruay of London (1598) 16).
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society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > for raising water > system of
waterOE
waterwork1437
gravity water system1940
1437 in L. F. Salzman Building in Eng. (1992) App. B. 509 The same Richard and John haue take upon hem and undertake..to kepe the Scantelons of the water werke of the same Mille in forme as hit folewith [etc.].
1596 J. Davies Epigr. vi. (In Titum) Titus..Three years togither in this towne hath beene Yet my Lord Chauncellors tombe he hath not seene Nor the New water worke.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist ii. i. sig. Dv Mam. I'll giue away so much, vnto my man, Shall serue th' whole Citie, with preseruatiue, Weekely, each house his dose, and at the rate— Sur. As he that built the Water-worke, dos with water. View more context for this quotation
1622 J. Taylor Very Merry Wherry-Ferry Voy. in Wks. (1630) ii. 12/2 Some 10. yeeres since Fresh water there was scant, But with much Cost they haue suppli'd that want; By a most ex'lent Water-worke that's made.
1644 G. Plattes in S. Hartlib Legacy (1655) 216 Raise the water by an engine or water-work of the most fit sort for that place and purpose.
1663 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Names & Scantlings Inventions F 7 The same individual Definition of my Water-work..I again adventure to present to Your Majesty.
1775 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 65 277 The circumstances attending this water-work, require a particular attention.
1801 S. Shaw Hist. & Antiq. Staffs. II. 121/2 The New Hydraulic Ram..is a self-moving water-work applicable to agricultural purposes.
1854 C. W. M. van de Velde Narr. of Journey through Syria & Palestine I. 481 It was not from the rains, however, but from the springs on Mount Gihon, that the city was supplied with drinking water in those times. This waterwork is now destroyed; not a trace is to be seen of the channels by which the water from those springs was collected.
1905 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 53 387/1 There was not, as far as he could see, a single water-work erected.
2010 M. Van der Linde & L. Ferris Compend. S. Afr. Environmental Legislation (ed. 2) xi. 389 Before constructing a waterwork, the Minister must..prepare an environmental impact assessment.
b. In plural. The system of reservoirs, pipes, and machinery by which water is obtained, stored, purified, and supplied to an area or a town; a water pumping or purifying station. Frequently with singular agreement.
ΚΠ
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. i. i. 202 Mr Otho Nicholson founder of our water-works and elegant Conduit in Oxford.
1691 London Gaz. No. 2625/1 An Act for Incorporating the Proprietors of the Water-works in York-Buildings.
1703 London Gaz. No. 3964/4 The Proprietors concerned in the London-Bridge Water-Works are desired to meet on Wednesday the 10th Instant.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. xliii. 284 They have a town house, an exchange, and waterworks, by which the city is supplied from the river.
1771 Ann. Reg. 1770 138/1 The 36th part of the king's moiety of the New River waterworks, was sold by publick auction at Garraway's coffee-house, for the sum of 6700 l.
1835 C. S. Storrow (title) A Treatise on Water-works for Conveying and Distributing Supplies of Water.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) I. 226/2 The term water-works is properly applied on. Thisly to such works as have for their object the collection, supply, and conveyance of water to towns.
1910 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 838/2 The municipality owns and operates its water-works.
1968 G. Daws Shoal of Time vii. 255 Wilcox finally got a job as a surveyor at the waterworks.
2014 Surrey Mirror 20 Mar. 5 The Kenley waterworks..serves thousands of nearby homes and businesses.
c. In plural. figurative. euphemistic. The urinary system.
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the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > urinary system > [noun]
waterworks1851
plumbing1942
1851 Lancet 31 May 596/2 At the end of six weeks I was certainly better for a short time than I had been before the operation; I mean, as far as regards my water-works, but that did not last.
1855 W. M. Thackeray Let. 22 Apr. (1946) III. 437 Its only disorganized liver, defective water-works or some such physical cause.
1902 F. W. Maitland Let. 6 July (1965) 249 I gather from Albutt that the immediate cause of death was, as A. put it, ‘in the water works’.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 345 Cissy..came back with her tongue out and said uncle said his waterworks were out of order.
1959 E. Ambler Passage of Arms v. 124 Little scotch, lot of soda. Got to keep the old waterworks going in this climate.
1977 E. W. Hildick Loop xxix. 205 I'd been plagued for a long time..by—well—let's call it waterworks trouble.
2012 Sun (Nexis) 14 June 45 A swollen prostate..certainly can upset a bloke's waterworks.
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the world > the earth > water > [noun] > anything built in or round water
waterwork1443
1443 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) V. 283 (MED) For þe makyng of þest and west jettys at Caleys for þe weele of þe havene and oþer water werkes in þe same havene.
1540 Acts Privy Council (1835) VII. 17 Antony Ainger paymaster to the Kinges workmenne of the water workes at Dover.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 106 The wylde Oke serueth also well in water woorkes.
1590 W. Vallans Tale two Swannes (1744) p. xiii [At Waltham Abbey] a rare devise they see,..a waterworke: the locke Through which the boates of Ware doe passe with malte.
1596 J. Harington New Disc. Aiax sig. H2 Though I called my selfe by metaphor an Admirall for the water workes.
1629 T. Grent Brit. Patent 47 1857 2 The circuler bathes or bathing waterworkes above mencioned.
a1647 T. Habington Surv. Worcs. (Worcs. Hist. Soc.) (1895) I. i. 29 Mr. William Sandys' waterwourcke on Avon.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 326 The knottiest and coarsest [oak] is best for Water-works and Piles.
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 380 For properly planting the greatest number of the Small-leaved English Elm, for raising timber, (commonly used for keels of ships and water-works)..a Gold Medal.
1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse §186 The ancient baths and water-works of the Romans were built with this kind of mortar.
3. A kind of mural painted in imitation of a tapestry in size or distemper (cf. size n.2, distemper n.2). Now historical.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to medium or technique > [noun] > a mural painting > mural painting in watercolour
waterwork1548
wash1598
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. xxviij Goodly tentes of blewe water worke garnyshed wt yelowe & white.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 147 And for thy wals a pretty sleight drollery, or the storie of the prodigal, or the Iarman hunting in waterworke, is worth a thousand of these bed-hangers, and these flie bitten tapestrie.
1631 in W. L. Sachse Minutes Norwich Court of Mayoralty 1630–1 (1942) 184 One worsted water worke for beinge badly wrought they fine yt.
1760 tr. J. G. Keysler Trav. through Germany (ed. 3) II. lii. 345 In the middle of this saloon is a fine waterwork.
1887 T. F. Kirby in Proc. Soc. Antiquaries London 2nd Ser. 11 197 I exhibit specimens of the sort of waterwork which I conceive Shakspeare to have had in his mind. They are examples of the sort of distemper-work which was in fashion in the middle of the sixteenth century.
1929 Times 30 Oct. 15/5 This ‘water-work’ is architectural in character, consisting of two oval panels between pairs of columns.
1970 T. West Timber-frame House in Eng. viii. 139 In the Tudor period this kind of painting was called ‘waterwork’ and it was often done on walls and ceilings.
2011 K. Duncan-Jones Shakespeare 6 What is referred to is fresco, painting done on wet plaster that is ‘fresh and new’, known to Elizabethans as ‘waterwork’. This was a more modish wall decoration than ragged old tapestries.
4. Chiefly in plural. Work concerned with hydraulic engineering, irrigation, drainage, etc. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > industry > engineering > [noun] > branches of
waterwork?a1560
civil engineeringc1770
water engineering1787
millwrighting1821
engineering science1826
hydraulic engineering1835
river engineering1842
structural engineering1859
industrial engineering1860
chemical engineering1861
sanitary engineering1868
biological engineering1898
control engineering1914
radio engineering1915
environmental engineering1946
systems engineering1946
bioengineering1950
value engineering1959
biomedical engineering1961
geoengineering1962
macro-engineering1964
microengineering1964
terotechnology1970
hydroengineering1971
civil1975
mechatronics1976
knowledge engineering1977
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxxi. sig. K j v And heere I thynke it not amisse to gyue you a precepte howe to fynde the diuersitie of these leuelles, wherby yee may exactly resolue sundry questions perteyning to water woorkes.
1564 in W. Mackay & H. C. Boyd Rec. Inverness (1911) I. 117 The prowest baillies and cunsall decernis all watter men to mak thayr partis of thair wattyr wark sufficient betuix the day and dayt heirof and the feist of Andersmes nixt.
1568 in C. T. Carr Sel. Charters Trading Companies (1913) I. 17 Workmasters of great cunning perfectness knowledge and experience in all kind of mineral works and of water works for the draining of all manner of mines.
1610 R. Vaughan (title) Most approved, and long experienced water-workes. Containing, the manner of winter and summer-drowning of medow and pasture.
1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis i. xiii. 35 Some famous for Limming;..he curious for Architecture; this for Water-workes, or any other Art.
1682 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 192 Sir Samuell Moreland, the great engineer in water-works, is gone over to the court of France to shew his skill there.
1781 M. J. Armstrong Hist. & Antiq. Norfolk II. 76 Mr. Richard Shelton..had such skill in water-works, that in 1528 his advice was used in cutting Yarmouth haven.
1858 A. H. Clough Amours de Voyage in Atlantic Monthly Apr. 667 Where..amid cotton and maize peasants their waterworks ply.
1929 National Hydraul. Lab.: Hearings before Rivers & Harbors Comm. (U.S. House of Representatives , 70th Congr., 2nd Sess.) II. 234 There are many men engaged in water work, such as sanitary engineers, outside of the city engineers.
1994 P. Ormerod Death of Econ. viii. 169 Some of the earliest civil servants to appear in world history were in China, where their task was to supervise waterworks and compile records about the height and flow of rivers.
5.
a. A device or structure which produces an ornamental or spectacular display of water; an ornamental fountain or cascade. Also: a display of this type. Usually in plural. Cf. firework n. 3b, 3c. Now chiefly historical.
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the world > the earth > water > fountain > [noun] > artificial
wellc1300
conduit?a1400
fountain1509
conduit-head1517
waterworka1586
water feature1841
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > [noun]
waterwork1710
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xiv. sig. I6v The table was set neere to an excellent water-worke; for by the casting of the water in most cunning maner, it makes (with the shining of the Sunne vpon it) a perfect rainbow.
1649 W. Davenant Love & Honour ii. i. 105 Those are the tunes my old widdow prisoner sings With more division than a water work When the maine pipe is halfe stopt.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1641 (1955) II. 47 Where in the upper romes of the house were divers pretty Water workes rising 108 foote from the ground.
1710 J. Addison Spectator No. 5. ¶3 There was actually a Project of bringing the New-River into the House, to be employed in Jetteaus and Water-works.
1757 C. Powys Diary in Passages from Diaries Mrs. Powys (1899) 29 The waterwork..may be said to be more grand than pleasing, as there is a formality in them, particularly the grand cascade.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. lxxi. 32 The water-works over! cried the widow, the water-works over already! that's impossible, they can't be over so soon!
1803 M. Wilmot Let. 6 Aug. in M. Wilmot & C. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) i. 34 The Gardens..so extensive and so beautiful and the Water works are beyond description.
1842 W. F. Tolmie Jrnl. 7 May (1963) 359 As the great display of waterworks was to take place at 5, I finally decided on remaining.
1904 E. Wharton in Cent. Mag. Feb. 569/2 The grounds of the Villa Borghese,..include a park,..while its waterworks are due to Giovanni Fontana, whose name is associated with the great jeux d'eaux of the villas at Frascati.
1938 Archit. Rev. 83 3/1 Its builder [sc. Henry Winstanley] had previously been known chiefly for some remarkable waterworks in Hyde Park.
1990 Opera Now May 43/1 Neither this nor the numerous automata and water effects of this date have the baroque theatricality of Bernini's waterworks.
2007 Garden Hist. 35 58 The waterworks recorded in the Wilton Garden can be located to the back side of the pavilion.
b. In plural. figurative.
(a) Tears, weeping, esp. when regarded as being forced, cynically manipulative, or overdramatic. In later use often in to turn on the waterworks.
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the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > weeping > [noun]
wopOE
reminga1200
weepingc1200
weepc1275
dolec1290
greetinga1300
greeta1325
grota1325
teara1340
tear1377
lachrymation?1530
gree?1567
waterworks1634
pipation1656
fletion1716
piping1779
ploration1828
blarting1898
1634 S. Hinde Free-will Offering 8 Alas, what are these my meditations, these water-works.
1647 J. Cleveland Poems in Char. London-diurnall (Wing C4662) 47 Not Bushells Wells can match a Poets eyes In wanton water-works.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xiv. 116 ‘Oh, Miss B., I never thought to have seen this day!’ And the water-works again began to play.
1884 Frank Leslie's Sunday Mag. Oct. 360/1 Harry could not bear to see Clare cry. ‘Hold up!’ he cried. ‘This will never do. Hullo! no water-works here, if you please.’
1928 J. Galsworthy Swan Song ii. xi. 194 Pitch it strong, but no waterworks.
1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xiv. 118 Don't, lady, he prayed silently—don't turn on the waterworks.
2013 Sun (Nexis) 26 Mar. 5 Our scarce resources should be allocated on a more objective basis, not based on who can turn on the waterworks in a doctor's surgery.
(b) In other figurative uses: †lava flow (obsolete rare); rain.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [noun]
raineOE
R1779
waterworks1806
1709 T. Robinson Vindic. Mosaick Syst. 23 in Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland & Cumberland The Veins..of the Earth being now saturated..the Subterrene Lymphæducts, or underground Water-works, began to bubble up and play from the Tops and Sides of the Mountains.
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. v. 96 The fire-works put entirely out of countenance by the water-works [sc. the rain].
1931 D. L. Sayers Five Red Herrings xvii. 179 You'd think they'd turned on the water-works [sc. rain] yesterday on purpose to spoil my sketching-party.
1988 S. Louvish City of Blok 12 Remember..the sound of thunder, waterworks from the sky.
6. In various contexts: a thing done or occurring in, on, or by means of water. Also as a mass noun: activity performed with or in water.In quot. 1629: a pageant presented on the water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [noun] > something done in or by
waterwork1604
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > mime > tableau > [noun] > types of
scene1591
waterwork1604
pose plastique1845
1604 G. Dugdale Time Triumphant sig. B2 Vpon the Thames the water workes for his [sc. King James'] entertainm[ent] Mirraculus, and the Fire workes on the water passed pleasing.
1608 Great Frost sig. A4v Make me so much beholding to you, as to receiue from you the right Picture of all these your Water-workes [i.e. the freezing of the Thames]; how they began, and how they have growne, and in what fashion continued?
1629 T. Dekker Londons Tempe sig. A4 The first Scæne is a Water-worke, presented by Oceanus, King of the Sea.
1655 W. Nicholson Plain Expos. Catech. iv. 171 The Scruple then here is, How water can wash away these Spotts of sin? To clear it in briefe: The truth is, it could not, it is no water worke.
1680 C. Ness Compl. Church-hist. 291 Such savoury discourse..for our deliverance from the devils water-works in eighty-eight [i.e. the Spanish Armada].
1824 ‘R. Stuart’ Descr. Hist. Steam Engine 6 The elasticity of the vapour of water..had now become familiar to water-work artists.
1902 Hist. Hawick from 1832 140 Usually most of the play [at handball] is in the river, and the ‘water work’ is the most amusing feature to the onlookers.
1999 Regatta Feb. 11/1 The usual staple winter diet of water-work, weights and ergos has been supplemented by ‘Ultimate Frisbee’, beach circuits, beach runs and the occasional attempt at surfing.
2005 J. M. Coetzee Slow Man ix. 61 There is also what in the hospital was called hydrotherapy and what Madeleine calls water-work.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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