sewer
n. countablen. an underground pipe or tunnel that carries away waste water and human waste from buildings. It is part of a larger system that keeps cities clean and safe.
n. an artificial, usually underground conduit for carrying off waste water and refuse. Often used in the plural to refer to the entire network of drainage pipes.
The workers are cleaning the sewer under the street.
Heavy rainfall caused the old sewer to overflow, flooding the basement of the nearby apartment building.
Modern urban planning relies on a sophisticated network of sewers to transport waste to treatment plants, preventing the spread of waterborne diseases in densely populated areas.
From Middle English sewer, seuer, from Anglo-Norman sewere (“water-course”), from Old French sewiere (“overflow channel for a fishpond”), from Vulgar Latin exaquāria (“drain for carrying water off”), from Latin ex (“out of, from”) + aquāria (“of or pertaining to waters”) or from a root exaquāre.
From Middle English seware, seuere, from Anglo-Norman asseour, from Old French asseoir (“find a seat for”), from Latin assidēre, present active participle of assideō (“attend to”), from ad (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit”).
sew + -er
Often used in the plural ('sewers') when referring to the infrastructure of a city.