Work

wurk, n. effort directed to an end: employment: the result of work: that on which one works: anything made or done: embroidery: deed: effect: a literary composition: a book: management: an establishment for any manufacture, a factory (gener. in pl. ): ( physics ) the product of a force by the component displacement of its point and application in the direction of the force: ( pl. ), ( fort. ) walls, trenches, .: ( theol. ) acts performed in obedience to the Divine law: a manufactory, workshop, place of work (esp. in pl. ): mechanism—e.g. of a watch.— v.i. to make efforts to attain anything: to perform: to be in action: to be occupied in busine or labour: to produce effects, to make progre with difficulty, to strain or labour: to ferment: to be agitated, to seethe: to embroider.— v.t. to make by labour: to bring into any state by action: to effect: to carry on operations in: to put in motion: to purge: to influence: to manage: to solve: to achieve: to cause to ferment: to provoke, agitate: to keep employed: to embroider:— pa.t. and pa.p. worked or wrought (rawt).— ns. Workabil′ity , Work′ablene .— adjs. Work′able , that may be worked; Work′aday , work-day, toiling, plodding.— ns. Work′-bag , -bas′ket , a bag, basket, for holding materials for work, esp. needlework; Work′-box , a lady's box for holding materials for work; Work′-day , a day for work: a week-day.— adj. pertaining to a work-day.— ns. Work′er , a toiler, performer: among insects, the neuter or undeveloped female; Work′-fell′ow , one who is engaged in the same work with another.— ns.pl. Work′folk , Work′folks , persons engaged in manual labour.— adj. Work′ful , industrious.— ns. Work′girl , a girl or young woman employed in some manual labour; Work′house , a house where any work or manufacture is carried on: a house of shelter for the poor, who are made to work; Work′ing , action, operation: fermentation: ( pl. ) the parts of a mine, ., where actual operations are in hand.— adj. active: labouring: connected with labour.— ns. Work′ing-beam , the oscillating lever of a steam-engine connecting the piston-rod and the crank-shaft, a walking-beam; Work′ing-cla , manual labourers (often in pl. ); Wor′king-day , a day on which work is done, as distinguished from the Sabbath and holidays: the period of actual work each day.— adj. laborious: plodding.— ns. Work′ing-draw′ing , a drawing of the details of a building by which the builders are guided in their work; Work′ing-house ( Shak. ), workshop; Work′ing-par′ty , a group of persons who do some work in common, or who meet periodically for such a purpose; Work′man , Work′ing-man , a man who works or labours, esp. manually: a skilful artificer.— adjs. Work′man-like , like a workman: becoming a skilful workman: well performed; Work′manly , becoming a skilful workman.— adv. in a manner becoming a skilful workman.— ns. Work′manship , the skill of a workman: manner of making: work done; Work′-mas′ter , a skilled or directing workman, esp. in some great undertaking.— n.pl. Work′-peo′ple , people engaged in labour.— ns. Work′room , a room for working in; Work′shop , a shop where work is done.— adj. Work′some , industrious.— ns. Work′-tā′ble , a small table used by ladies at their needlework; Work′-woman , a woman who makes her living by some manual labour.— Work of art , a production in one of the fine arts; Work double tides , to work through continuous tides, night and day; Work in , to intermix, to make to penetrate; Work into , to make way gradually into: to change, alter; Work off , to separate and throw off, to get rid of, circulate: to produce as by work, esp. to print; Work on , or upon , to act or operate upon, to influence; Work one's pa age , to give one's work on board in place of pa age-money; Work out , to effect by continued labour: to expiate: to exhaust: to solve or study anything fully out; Work up , to excite, rouse: to create by slow degrees, to expand, elaborate: to use up, as material: ( naut. ) to set at an irksome or needle task; Work with , to strive to influence by appeals, .— Board of Works , the body which has the management and control of public works and buildings, of which the expenses are defrayed from the crown revenues or parliamentary grants; Have one's work cut out , to have one's work prescribed: to have a difficult task before one; Make short work of (see Short ); Out of work , out of working order: without employment; Set to work , to employ in some work: to engage in some work; Seven Works of Corporal Mercy , to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, visit prisoners, visit the sick, harbour strangers, bury the dead— of Spiritual Mercy , to convert sinners, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, console the afflicted, bear wrongs patiently, forgive injuries, pray for the living and the dead. [A.S. weorc ; Ice. verk , Ger. werk ; further conn. with Gr. ergon .]