sewer
When they made making your own clothes illegal, she had become a sewer sewer.
The sentence depicts a seamstress trapped in the role of a drainage pipe — playing on 'sewer' as both 'one who sews' and 'a drain.'
Meanings
a person who sews; a seamstress or tailor
- The sewer worked at her treadle machine all afternoon.
- Skilled sewers were prized in Victorian-era households.
an underground conduit for carrying off drainage water and sewage
- The city's sewers were upgraded last year.
- Sewer maintenance is critical to public health.
Word origin
Two etymologically distinct words: 'sewer' the seamstress /ˈsoʊər/ is from 'sew' + the agent suffix '-er', from Old English sīwian ('to sew'). 'Sewer' the drain /ˈsuːər/ is from Old French (e)sseweur ('drain'), from Vulgar Latin *exaquāria, formed from ex- ('out') + aqua ('water'). Two words from completely different roots, sharing only spelling.
Fun fact
The two 'sewers' have nothing to do with each other — one comes from Old English sīwian ('to sew'), the other from Vulgar Latin exaquāria ('drain' — literally 'water-out-er'). The drain word's Latin aqua is the same root as 'aquarium', 'aqueous', 'aqueduct'. So the urban sewer is etymologically a 'water-out-thing,' not connected at all to thread and needle.