Pronunciation Noun
work
- (heading, uncountable) Employment.
- Labour, occupation, job.
- My work involves a lot of travel.
- c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv], page 177 ↗, column 1:
- Come on Neriſſa, I haue worke in hand / That you yet know not of; wee'll ſee our husbands / Before they thinke of vs?
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, 2 Chronicles 31:21 ↗:
- And in euery worke that he began […] he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
- The place where one is employed.
- He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still at work.
- One's employer.
- I want to go to the R.E.M. reunion concert but I'm not sure if my work will let me off.
- Labour, occupation, job.
- (heading, uncountable) Effort.
- Effort expended on a particular task.
- Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
- Sustained human effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
- We know what we must do. Let's go to work.
- Something on which effort is expended.
- There's lots of work waiting for me at the office.
- (physics) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
- Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
- (physics, more generally) A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process.
- Effort expended on a particular task.
- Sustained effort to achieve a goal or result, especially overcoming obstacles.
- We don't have much time. Let's get to work piling up those sandbags.
- 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794 ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwptej;view=1up;seq=5 page 01]:
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
- (heading) Product; the result of effort.
- (uncountable, often, in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.
- There's a lot of guesswork involved.
- (uncountable, often, in combination) Something produced using the specified material or tool.
- We've got some paperwork to do before we can get started. The piece was decorated with intricate filigree work.
- (countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production.
- It is a work of art.
- the poetic works of Alexander Pope
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene i], page 140 ↗, column 2:
- To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in the Worke:
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 1 ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 730–732:
- The haſty multitude / Admiring enter'd, and the work ſome praiſe / And ſome the Architect:
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314 ↗, page 0088 ↗:
- “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […] ”
- (countable) A fortification.
- William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
- (uncountable, often, in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.
- (uncountable, slang, professional wrestling) The staging of events to appear as real.
- (mining) Ore before it is dressed.
- (slang, plural only) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)
- Tell me you're using clean works at least.
- (employment) See also Thesaurus:occupation
- (productive activity) See also Thesaurus:work
- French: travail, [6] (please verify) œuvre (fr) m, [6] (please verify) création (fr) m
- German: Arbeit
- Italian: lavoro, impiego, occupazione
- Portuguese: trabalho, emprego
- Russian: рабо́та
- Spanish: trabajo, curro (colloquial)
- French: travail
- German: Arbeit
- Italian: posto di lavoro
- Portuguese: trabalho, emprego
- Russian: рабо́та
- Spanish: trabajo, tajo (colloquial)
- French: travail
- German: Arbeit
- Italian: lavoro, impegno, fatica
- Portuguese: trabalho
- Russian: рабо́та
- Spanish: trabajo
- Portuguese: obra
- Russian: труд
- Portuguese: obra
- French: travail, œuvre
- German: Werk
- Italian: lavoro, opera, creazione
- Portuguese: obra, trabalho
- Russian: рабо́та
- Spanish: obra
- Portuguese: fortificação
- Russian: укрепле́ние
- Spanish: obras
work (works, present participle working; past and past participle worked)
- (intransitive) To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
- He’s working in a bar.
- Followed by in (or at, etc.) Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business).
- I work in a national park
- she works in the human resources department
- he mostly works in logging, but sometimes works in carpentry
- Followed by as. Said of one's job title
- I work as a cleaner.
- Followed by for. Said of a company or individual who employs.
- she works for Microsoft
- he works for the president
- Followed by with. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients.
- I work closely with my Canadian counterparts
- you work with computers
- she works with the homeless people from the suburbs
- (transitive) To effect by gradual degrees.
- he worked his way through the crowd
- the dye worked its way through
- using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand
- 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy
- So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains / Of rushing torrents and descending rains, / Works itself clear, and as it runs, refines, / Till by degrees the floating mirror shines.
- (transitive) To embroider with thread.
- (transitive) To set into action.
- He worked the levers.
- (transitive) To cause to ferment.
- (intransitive) To ferment.
- 1612, Francis Bacon, Essay on Natural History
- the working of beer when the barm is put in
- 1612, Francis Bacon, Essay on Natural History
- (transitive) To exhaust, by working.
- 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, chapter 11, gbooks xr0NAAAAQAAJ:
- They were told of a ſilver mine, that had been worked by the Spaniards, ſomewhere in the Healthſhire Hills, in St. Catharine; but they were not able to diſcover it.
- 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, chapter 11, gbooks xr0NAAAAQAAJ:
- (transitive) To shape, form, or improve a material.
- He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
- (transitive) To operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
- she works the night clubs
- the salesman works the Midwest
- this artist works mostly in acrylics
- (transitive) To operate in or through; as, to work the phones.
- (transitive) To provoke or excite; to influence.
- The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
- (transitive) To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
- She knows how to work the system.
- (transitive) To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
- I cannot work a miracle.
- (transitive) To cause to work.
- He is working his servants hard.
- (intransitive) To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
- he pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?; he looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work; my plan didn’t work
- (intransitive, figuratively) To influence.
- They worked on her to join the group.
- (intransitive) To effect by gradual degrees; as, to work into the earth.
- (intransitive) To move in an agitated manner.
- His fingers worked with tension.
- A ship works in a heavy sea.
- 1705, Joseph Addison, Remarks on several parts of Italy, &c., in the years 1701, 1702, 1703
- confused with working sands and rolling waves
- (intransitive) To behave in a certain way when handled
- this dough does not work easily; the soft metal works well
- (transitive, with two objects, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
- 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
- And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, "I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!"
- 1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Ballad of One-eyed Mike”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, OCLC 2068144 ↗, stanza 12, pages 54–55 ↗:
- So sad it seemed, and its cheek-bones gleamed, and its fingers flicked the shore; / And it lapped and lay in a weary way, and its hands met to implore; / That I gently said: "Poor, restless dead, I would never work you woe; / Though the wrong you rue you can ne'er undo, I forgave you long ago."
- 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
- (obsolete, intransitive) To hurt; to ache.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI:
- ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI:
- French: travailler, (slang) bosser
- German: arbeiten
- Italian: lavorare
- Portuguese: trabalhar
- Russian: рабо́тать
- Spanish: trabajar, laburar (Lat. Am., colloquial)
- Russian: пробира́ться
- French: actionner
- Portuguese: operar, ativar
- Russian: приводи́ть в де́йствие
- Spanish: hacer funcionar, operar
- Spanish: fermentar
- Russian: выраба́тывать
- French: opérer
- Russian: рабо́тать
- Russian: вызыва́ть
- Russian: испо́льзовать
- French: marcher, fonctionner
- German: funktionieren, wirken
- Portuguese: funcionar
- Russian: рабо́тать
- Spanish: funcionar, marchar, (please verify) ser#Spanish|ser eficaz of medicine
- Russian: влия́ть
- French: se travailler
- Russian: рабо́тать
Work
Proper noun
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