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work

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:-work

English

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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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  • Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European*werǵ-
    Proto-Indo-European*-om
    Proto-Indo-European*wérǵom
    Proto-Germanic*werką
    Proto-West Germanic*werk
    Old Englishweorc
    Middle Englishwerk
    Englishwork

    FromMiddle Englishwork,werk, fromOld Englishweorc, fromProto-West Germanic*werk, fromProto-Germanic*werką, fromProto-Indo-European*wérǵom.

    Akin toScotswark,Saterland FrisianWierk,West Frisianwurk,Dutchwerk,GermanWerk,German Low GermanWark,Danishværk,Norwegian Bokmålverk,Norwegian Nynorskverk,Swedishverk,yrke andorka,Icelandicverk,Gothic𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌹(gawaurki),Ancient Greekἔργον(érgon,“work”) (fromϝέργον(wérgon)),Avestan𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰(vərəz,“to work, to perform”),Armenianգործ(gorc,“work”),Albanianargëtoj(“entertain, reward, please”),Russianварганить(varganitʹ,“"to whip up, to cook something quickly, to throw together"”). English cognates includebulwark,boulevard,energy,erg,georgic,liturgy,metallurgy,organ,surgeon,wright.Doublet oferg andergon.

    Noun

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    work (countable anduncountable,pluralworks)

    1. (uncountable)Employment.
      1. Labour,occupation,job.
        Synonyms:seeThesaurus:occupation
        Mywork involves a lot of travel.
      2. Theplace where one is employed.
        He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still atwork.
      3. (by extension) One's employer.
        I want to go to the reunion concert, but I'm not sure if mywork will give me the time off.
      4. (dated) Afactory; aworks.
        • 1917,Platers' Guide, page246:
          In trials of a Martin furnace in a steelwork at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after[…]
    2. (uncountable)Effort.
      1. Effort expended on a particular task.
        Synonyms:seeThesaurus:work
        Holding a brick over your head is hardwork. It takes a lot ofwork to write a dictionary.
      2. Sustainedeffort to overcomeobstacles and achieve aresult.
        We know what we must do. Let's go towork.
        We don't have much time. Let's get towork piling up those sandbags.
      3. Something on which effort is expended.
        There's lots ofwork waiting for me at the office.
        2. (euphemistic)Cosmetic surgery.
          has had a lot ofwork done
          • 2025 May 20,Marina Hyde, “Was this a hen do or a humanitarian mission to liberate Paris? Either way, give Lauren Sánchez an award”, inThe Guardian‎[1],→ISSN:
            Luckily, our eyes have grown accustomed after decades of Botox, fillers and extreme “work” going mainstream, so we don’t notice the weirdness and read it instead as maximum hotness. Thank you, progress!
        3. (prisonslang) Prison gang violence.
          has been putting inwork
      5. (physics) A measure ofenergy expended in moving an object; most commonly,force timesdistance. No work is done if the object does notmove.
        Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
      6. (physics, more generally) A measure of energy that isusefully extracted from a process:appliedproductively.
        • 2013 July-August,Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, inAmerican Scientist:
          Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latinturbo, meaning "vortex", and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform usefulwork.
    3. Product; the result ofeffort.
      1. (uncountable, often in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.
        There's a lot of guesswork involved.
      2. (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 filigreework.
      3. (countable) Aliterary,artistic, orintellectualproduction; acreative work.
        Synonyms:seeThesaurus:creative work
        It is awork of art.
        the poeticworks of Alexander Pope
        • c.1606 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene i],page140, column 2:
          To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in theWorke:
        • 1667,John Milton, “Book I”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC, lines730–732:
          The haſty multitude / Admiring enter'd, and thework ſome praiſe / And ſome the Architect:
        • 1910,Emerson Hough, chapter I, inThe Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:
          “[…] We are engaged in a greatwork, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?[…]”
      4. (countable) Afortification.
        William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner ofworks.
    4. (uncountable, slang, professional wrestling) Thestaging of events to appear as real.
    5. (mining)Ore before it isdressed.[1]
    6. (slang, plural only) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes,needles,swabs etc.)
      Tell me you're using cleanworks at least.
      • 1977 [1953],William S. Burroughs, edited byAllen Ginsberg,Junky, Penguin Books,→ISBN,pages25–26:
        He gave me a sour look. “All right is it? Well, you shoot some then.” I cooked up a grain and got out myworks ready to take the shot.
      • 1996, Paul Harding Douglas with Laura Pinsky,The Essential AIDS Fact Book, Simon and Schuster,→ISBN,page25:
        If you buy newworks, clean thembefore using them. If you shareworks, clean them before you or the next person uses them. Blood may be in yourworks even if you can't see it. Clean yourworks either with rubbing alcohol (available in drugstores), a household bleach solution (three tablespoons of bleach in a cup of water), or boiling water.
      • 2009, Gillian G. Gaar,The Rough Guide to Nirvana‎[2], Rough Guides UK,→ISBN:
        While in San Francisco, where the AIDS crisis was particularly devastating, they saw numerous public awareness signs reading “Bleach YourWorks” posted around the city, urging IV drug users to clean their needles with bleach to help staunch the spread of the disease.
    7. (LGBTQslang) The confident attitude of adrag queen.
      • 2018 April 17, madison moore,Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, Yale University Press,→ISBN, page27:
        All told,werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery.
      • 2022 January 25, Monique Jenkinson,Faux Queen: A Life in Drag, Bywater Books,→ISBN:
        If the voice coming out of my body is legibly male, it complicates my presence. Thework starts to approach that mysterious state ofwerq.
    Derived terms
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    Descendants
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    Translations
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    labour, employment, occupation, job
    place where one is employed
    effort expended on a particular task
    result of a particular manner of production
    something produced using the specified material or tool
    literary, artistic, or intellectual production
    physics: measure of energy expended in moving an object
    thermodynamics: energy in transit between one form or repository and another
    fortification
    wrestling: staging of events
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    See also

    [edit]
    • (product (combining form)):-ing

    Etymology 2

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    FromMiddle Englishwerken andworchen, fromOld Englishwyrċan andwircan (Mercian), fromProto-Germanic*wurkijaną(“to work”), fromProto-Indo-European*wr̥ǵyéti(“to be working, to be at work”), from the root*werǵ-. Cognate withOld Frisianwerka,wirka,Old Saxonwirkian,Low Germanwarken,Dutchwerken,Old High Germanwurken (Germanwirken,werken andwerkeln),Old Norseyrkja andorka, (Swedishyrka andorka),Gothic𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽(waurkjan).

    Verb

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    work (third-person singular simple presentworks,present participleworking,simple past and past participleworkedor(rare, archaic)wrought)

    A farmerworking in a potato field
    1. (intransitive) To do a specifictask byemployingphysical ormentalpowers.
      He'sworking in a bar.
      1. Said of one'sworkplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [withinorat].
        Iwork in a national park.
        Sheworks in the human resources department.
        He mostlyworks in logging but sometimesworks in carpentry too.
      2. Said of one'sjob title[withas].
        • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC,page287:
          This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital byworking as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
        Iwork as a cleaner.
      3. Said of a company or individual whoemploys[withfor].
        Sheworks for Microsoft.
        Heworks for the President.
      4. General use, said of either fellowemployees orinstruments orclients[withwith].
        Iwork closely with my Canadian counterparts.
        Youwork with computers, right?
        Sheworks with the homeless people from the suburbs.
      5. (transitive) Towork oroperate in a certain place, area, orspeciality.
        Sheworks the night clubs.
        The salesmanworks the Midwest.
      6. (transitive) Towork oroperate in, through, or by means of.
        She'sworking the phones.
    2. (intransitive) Tofunctioncorrectly; toact asintended; toachieve the goaldesigned for.
      He pointed at the car and asked, "Does itwork"?
      He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they wouldwork.
      My plan didn'twork.
      • 2013 June 21,Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, inAlan Rusbridger, editor,The Guardian‎[3], volume189, number 2, London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on8 June 2023, page48:
        The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionallyworked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
      • 2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, inRAIL, number1046, page54:
        Once again, the WiFi isn't willing towork. When the guard comes to check tickets, I ask him if it everworks. He rolls his eyes and tells me it rarely does. He says I'll be lucky if I get it to connect. I give up trying.
    3. (transitive) To cause tooperate, beproductive,behave a certain way, orhappen.
      1. Toset intoaction.
        Heworked the levers.
      3. Toexhaust, by working.
        The mine wasworked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
        • 1774,Edward Long, chapter 11, inThe History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, page240:
          They were told of a ſilver mine, that had beenworked by the Spaniards, ſomewhere in the Healthſhire Hills, in St. Catharine; but they were not able to diſcover it.
      4. Toshape,form, orimprove amaterial.
        He used pliers towork the wire into shape.
      5. Toprovoke orexcite; toinfluence.
        The rock musicianworked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
        • 1950,Norman Lindsay,Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page17:
          "Still, boozers can beworked sometimes. Most people can, if you encourage their kink. One old woman staked me for three months because she got such a kick out of scandalmongering the neighbours to me."
      6. Touse ormanipulate to one’sadvantage.
        She knows how towork the system.
      7. (law) To cause tohappen or tooccur as aconsequence.
        I cannotwork a miracle.
        • 2022,Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation Bylaws, Article III, Section 3.01:
          Failure to hold the annual meeting, or to otherwise conduct the business of the annual meeting, shall notwork a forfeiture or dissolution of the Cooperative.
      8. Toforce towork.
        He isworking his servants hard.
    4. (intransitive) To move orprogress slowly or with difficulty.
      towork into the earth
      1. (transitive) To move or progress slowly[withone's way].
        Heworked his way through the crowd.
        The dyeworked its way through.
    5. (transitive) To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
      Using some tweezers, sheworked the bee sting out of her hand.
      • 1712 (date written),[Joseph] Addison,Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published1713,→OCLC, Act I, scene iv,page16:
        So the pure limpid Stream, when foul with Stains / Of ruſhing Torrents, and deſcending Rains, /Work’s it ſelf clear, and as it runs, refines; / ’Till by Degrees, the floating Mirrour ſhines, /[…]
    6. (transitive) Toembroider withthread.
    7. (intransitive) Toferment.
    8. (transitive) To cause toferment.
      • 1627 (indicated as1626),Francis [Bacon], “X. Century.”, inSylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […];[p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […],→OCLC, paragraph 992,page255:
        ForInanimate Things, you may trie theForce ofImagination, vpon Staying theWorking ofBeere, when theBarme is put in; Or vpon theComming ofButter, orCheeſe, after theCherming, or theRennet bee put in.
    9. (intransitive, figuratively) Toinfluence.
      Theyworked on her to join the group.
    10. (intransitive) Tomove in anagitatedmanner.
      His fingersworked with tension.
      A shipworks in a heavy sea.
      • 1705,J[oseph] Addison, “Brescia, Verona, Padua”, inRemarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC,page54:
        Here vex’d with Winter StormsBenacus raves, / Confus’d withworking Sands and rolling Waves; / Rough and tumultuous like a Sea it lyes, / So loud the Tempeſt roars, ſo high the Billows riſe.
    11. (intransitive) Tobehave in a certain way whenhandled
      This dough does notwork easily.
      The soft metalworks well.
    12. (ditransitive, poetic) Tocause (someone) tofeel (something); todo unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
    13. (obsolete, intransitive) Tohurt; toache.
    14. (slang, transitive) Topull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.
      I would have never thought those pieces would go together, but she isworking it like nobody's business.
    15. (LGBTQslang, intransitive) To perform with aconfidentattitude, particularly as adrag queen.
      • 2020 November 9, Shae Connor,Rough and Tumble, Entangled: Embrace,→ISBN:
        Plus, all that gym work means you've got muscles for days. You gotta werk it, babe." She puts a swish and swing into her next few steps before she bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.
      • 2022 February 1, Lindsay Bryde, Tommy Mayberry,RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning with RuPaul's Drag Race, McFarland,→ISBN, page41:
        Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You betterwork" from the song is used on a daily basis.
    Conjugation
    [edit]
    Conjugation ofwork
    infinitive(to)work
    present tensepast tense
    1st-personsingularworkworked,wrought†
    2nd-personsingularwork,workest†worked,workedst†,wrought†
    3rd-personsingularworks,worketh†worked,wrought†
    pluralwork
    subjunctiveworkworked,wrought†
    imperativework—
    participlesworkingworked,wrought†
    Derived terms
    [edit]
    phrasal verbs derived fromwork (verb)
    other terms derived from thework (verb)
    Descendants
    [edit]
    • → Cantonese:work(adjective)
    Translations
    [edit]
    to do a specific task
    to operate in a certain place, area, or specialty.
    to operate in, through, or by means of
    to function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for
    to set into action
    to exhaust
    to shape, form, or improve a material
    to provoke or excite
    to use or manipulate
    to cause to happen
    to force to work
    to move or progress slowly
    to cause to move or progress
    to embroider with thread
    to ferment
    to cause to ferment
    to influence
    to move in an agitated manner
    to behave in a certain way when handled.
    to cause to feel
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Further reading

    [edit]
    • "work" in Raymond Williams,Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 334.

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond (1881), “Work”, inA Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. […], Easton, Pa.:[American] Institute[of Mining Engineers], […],→OCLC.

    Chinese

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    Etymology

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    FromEnglishwork(verb).

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    work(Hong Kong Cantonese)

    1. working asintended;functioning
    2. effective

    Verb

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    work(Hong Kong Cantonese)

    1. towork asintended; tofunction

    References

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    Middle English

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    work

    1. alternative form ofwerk
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