From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishturn on the waterworksturn on the waterworksinformalCRY to start crying in order to get sympathy ‘Don’t turn on the waterworks, ’ he sighed. → waterworks
Examples from the Corpus
turn on the waterworks• She was one of those people who could turn on the waterworks in order to get what they want.• Before Reagan turned on the waterworks, crying in public was widely considered a sign of weakness. 