| 释义 |
▪ I. work, n.|wɜːk|
Forms: α. 1—4 weorc, 2–4 weork(e, (3 Orm. weorrc, weorrk-). β. 1–4 werc, (3 wærc, wærk, Orm. werrc), 3–6 werk(e, (4 -cke, -kke, 5 wherk, 6 Sc. verk); Sc. and north. 4 warc(ke, vark, 4–7 warke, 4– wark. γ. 1 wyrc, 1–2 wurc, 3 wurck, wurk, (5 wrke); 4 wirke. δ. 1–3 worc, 3–7 worke, (3, 6 worck, 4 vorke, 6 woorke, wourke, 6–7 worcke), 6– work. ε. 2–3 werch, 3, 5–6 worch(e, wurch, 9 dial. wurtch; 3, 7– warch (see wark n.1).
[OE. weorc = OFris., OS., (M)LG., (M)Du. werk, OHG. werah, werc (MHG. werch, werc, G. werk), ON. verk (Sw., Da. verk):—OTeut. *werkom (see work v.); cognate are Gr. ἔργον, Arm. gorc, Zend varəza- activity. Forms γ and ε show partial assimilation to the forms of work v.; see also wark, warch n.1 (in a specialized sense).]
I.
1. Something that is or was done; what a person does or did; an act, deed, proceeding, business; in pl. actions, doings (often collectively = 3). arch. or literary in gen. sense.
sing.971Blickl. Hom. 47 Þis weorc biþ deoflum se mæsta teona. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 10 God weorc heo worhte on me. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 318 Þæt weorc wæs begunnen onᵹean Godes willan. c1205Lay. 2574 Menbriz dude an vuel weorc. c1230Hali Meid. (1922) 25 Halden ham i reste fram þat fleschliche werc. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 80 Or it wer alle ent þe werke þat þei did wirke. c1400Rule St. Benet (verse) 446 Chaistese þam..Efter þe wark þat þai haue wroght. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye iii. 310 Whyle god fulfylleth thys daye the worke of nature. c1470Henry Wallace i. 434 Quhen Wallas thus this worthi werk had wrocht. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 569 The kestrell in all this warke Shall be holy water clarke. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 207 b, Se the worke of God,..ther rose suche a sodain wynde and a terrible tempest. 1595Shakes. John iv. iii. 57 It is a damned, and a bloody worke. 1599Peele David & Bethsabe E ij b, Is not the hand of Ioab in this worke? 1613Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xv. 272 A people of that beastly disposition, that they performed the most secret worke of Nature in publike view. 1679South Serm., Prov. iii. 17 (1697) I. 28 After a long fatigue of Eating, and Drinking, and Babling, he concludes the great work of Dining Gentilely. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxvii, For almost the last time in which she shall be called upon to weep in this history, she commenced that work. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn viii, All this doctor's stuff is no use, unless you can say a charm as will undo her devil's work.
pl. Beowulf 289 Ᵹescad witan worda and worca. c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxii. 210 Ᵹif we hie myndᵹiað hiera godna weorca. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 3 Ne do ᵹe na æfter heora worcum; Hiᵹ secgeað & ne doð. c1175Lamb. Hom. 145 Alle we beoð in monifald wawe..hwat for ure eldere werkes, hwat for ure aȝene gultes. c1250Hymn 16 in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 257 Þat ic non þing mid unricht Wurche þe werches þe beoð towilde. c1250Prayer to our Lady 29 in O.E. Misc. 193 Ich habbe isuneȝet mid wurken and midd muðe. a1300Cursor M. 1983 Wit lele werks lok ȝee dele. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 3 In Habite of an Hermite vn-holy of werkes. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 19 She was..wyse in her werkes honeste in conuersacion & flowryng in alle vertuys. 1526Tindale Matt. xi. 2 When Jhon beinge in preson herde the workes of Christ. 1560Bible (Genev.) Isa. lix. 6 Their workes are workes of iniquitie. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage i. viii. 119 Hypocrisie loues her workes should be seene, but not her humour. a1763Shenstone Ess. xxxi. Wks. 1765 II. 223 A Deity, whose very words are works, and all whose works are wonders. a1863Whately Chr. Evid. v, The works performed by Jesus and His disciples were beyond the unassisted powers of man.
b. Theol. (pl.) Moral actions considered in relation to justification: usually as contrasted with faith or grace. Rarely in sing. (See also 32.)
Covenant of Works: see covenant n. 8 a.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 268 Ȝif I shal werke be here werkis to wynne me heuene,..Þanne wrouȝte I vnwisly. 1382Wyclif Eph. ii. 9 By grace ȝe ben saued bi feith,..it is the ȝifte of God, not of werkis, that no man glorie. c1480Henryson Fox, Wolf & Husb. 207 Warkis that fra ferme faith proceidis. 1526Tindale Rom. xi. 6 Yff hit be of grace then is it not by the deservynge of workes [1611 then is it no more of workes]. 1533Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 107 Faith causis hime to virk throw lwiff godlie and chrissine varkis. 1625Mountagu App. Cæsar. 164 The person with God must be made acceptable..before any work of his become approveable. 1635D. Dickson Hebr. vii. 19. 131 To seeke to bee..justified and saved, by workes, is to seeke that by the Lawe, which could never bee brought to passe, by it. 1739J. Wesley Doctrine of Salvation 5 Because all Men are Sinners against God, and Breakers of his Law, therefore can no Man by his Works be justified, and made righteous before God. 1883W. C. Dowding Luther & his Work 6 We are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith; and not from our own works or deservings. 1906W. Walker John Calvin xv. 415 Calvin..leaves room for a conception of ‘works’ as strenuous..as any claimed by the Roman communion. 1963E. P. Thompson Making of Eng. Working Class xi. 364 How, then, to keep grace? Not by good works, since Wesley had elevated faith above works:..Works were the snares of pride and the best works were mingled with the dross of sin; although.. works might be a sign of grace. 1972Q. Bell Virginia Woolf I. i. 4 The Clapham Sect was concerned with works rather than with faith.
c. Qualified by phr. with of expressing the moral quality of the action, as a work or works of charity, work of darkness, work of mercy, etc.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 Ðe werc of þesternesse þat ben alle heuie sennen. a1300Cursor M. 19764 Cristen sco was and euer fus Abute all werkes of almus. 1340–1824 [see mercy n. 7]. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 25 It is werk of mercy to birie dede men. c1440Gesta Rom. 341 It was a werke of charitee. 1526Tindale Eph. v. 11 Have no fellishippe with the vnfrutfull workes of dercknes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 18 Amonges other workes of Charitie..we shoulde..comforte the sicke. 1703Earl of Orrery As you find it v. ii. 63, I have another Work of Charity upon my hands,..to reform an extravagant Husband. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague iii. ii, Even in her dreams Her soul is at some work of charity.
d. the work of {ddd}: a proceeding occupying (a stated length of time). So a work of time: a proceeding which takes a long time.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §2 The confused mass and matter of heaven and earth was made in a moment; and the..disposition of that chaos or mass was the work of six days. 1749J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 120 All this was not the work of the fourth part of a minute. 1813Scott Rokeby ii. xxi, To wrench the sword from Wilfrid's hand..Was but one moment's work. 1818― Hrt. Midl. li, They had now only to double a small head-land..; but in the state of the weather, and the boat being heavy, this was like to be a work of time. 1819― Ivanhoe xxxi. 1834Marryat Peter Simple xxxiii, All this was..but the work of a few minutes. 1871Hardy Desperate Remedies II. ii. 74 To bring him out and lay him on a bank was the work of an instant. 1906A. Werner Natives Brit. Central Africa vi. 136 Once the water has been brought to the boil, which..is apt to be a work of time. 1927C. Asquith Black Cap 73 To light his candle and put on his dressing-gown and slippers was the work of a moment.
e. spec. (see quots.).
1869P. Landreth Life Adam Thomson i. 43 The services on such an occasion [sc. the communion] were..emphatically designated by devout people ‘the work’. 1887W. S. S. Tyrwhitt New Chum in Queensland Bush viii. 147, I have found the Cape rifle..a very useful gun for Queensland work [i.e. kangaroo shooting]. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. lvii. II. 395 The ‘work’ of politics means in America the business of winning nominations..and elections.
2. Something to be done, or something to do; what a person (or thing) has or had to do; occupation, employment, business, task, function.
Often only contextually distinguishable from 1; in later use viewed as a fig. or extended application of 4 or 5.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Mark xiii. 34 Se man [þe]..sealde his þeowum þæne anwald ᵹehwylces weorces. c1200Ormin 1833 Whatt weorrc himm iss þurrh Drihhtin sett To forþenn her onn eorþe. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn x. 40 The werke that he hath vndertaken. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 118 Fie vpon this quiet life, I want worke. 1602― Ham. v. ii. 333 The point envenom'd too, Then venome to thy worke. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Ouvrage, Euerie bodies worke is no bodies worke. 1643J. Burroughes Exp. 1st 3 ch. Hosea ix. (1652) 302 It is not my worke to handle the point of the Sabbath-day or Lords-day now. 1786Burns Twa Dogs 206 Gentlemen, and Ladies..Wi' ev'n down want o' wark are curst. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxviii. 259 The Lord has a work for mas'r. 1862Ruskin Unto this Last iv. §82 The desert has its appointed place and work. 1865Trollope Belton Est. i. 9 To fight the devil was her work,—was the appointed work of every living soul.
b. Cricket, Rowing, etc. What a batsman, an oarsman, etc. has to do, esp. with reference to the points at which his force is to be applied.
1851Pycroft Cr. Field vii. 117 Be sure you stand up to your work, or close to your block-hole. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports ii. viii. iii. §2. 476/1 He [sc. a rower] sits quite square to his work. 1925G. C. Bourne Oarsmanship 32 Those theorists who would have us place oarsmen some three to six inches away from their work.
3.
†a. Action (of a person) in general; doings, deeds; conduct. (Often conjoined with word.) Obs.
971[see word n. 4]. a1200Moral Ode 108 in O.E. Hom. I. 167 His aȝe werch and his þonc te witnesse he scal demen. c1200Ormin 5426 Whase maȝȝ wiþþ word & weorrc Her fillenn Godess wille. a1300Cursor M. 8696 Bath warr and wis in all his werc. c1400Rule St. Benet (prose) 3 Wha sam heris my word and dos it in werke. c1470Gol. & Gaw 1244 Ilkane be werk and be will Is worth his rewarde. 1533Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 9 Inuertlie in thair hart and outuertlie in thair word and wark. 1564–78W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 34 The euill [man], whose woorke is either dronkennesse, adulterie, thefte. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 15 Maisters of ane euil steik of vark Sould ay detest the godlie, vpricht lyf. 1609Bible (Douay) Deut. v. 1 Heare Israel the ceremonies & judgements..and fulfil them in worke.
b. Action (of a person or thing) of a particular kind; † doing, performance; working, operation. In various connexions; of a thing, often in reference to result; to do its work, to produce its effect (cf. 9 b).
c1440Gesta Rom. 4 In werke of ony goode dede. c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 89 If the maner of outring which is sauory in a sermonyng schulde be sett..in the office of scole prouyng..al the werk ther of schulde be the vnsaueryer and the vnspedier. 1480Cely Papers (Camden) 58 Hys howsse..schall come to be pluckyd schorttly down or elles burnyd for the schortter warke. a1635Sibbes Confer. Christ & Mary (1656) 92 The work of God's spirit in his children, is like fire. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies v. 36 The composition or dissolution of mixed bodies..is the chiefe worke of Elements, and requireth an intime application of the Agents. 1731Art of Drawing & Paint. 23 When the Spirit of Wine has done its Work, it must be pour'd off. 1763Museum Rust. I. 348 It will be so steady that no unevenness of the ground will be able to throw it out of its work, as a clod or stone will a common harrow. 1819Byron Juan ii. cii, Famine, despair, cold, thirst, and heat, had done Their work on them by turns. 1837Dickens Pickw. iii, The brandy-and-water had done its work.
c. Cricket. Deflection of the ball after touching the ground, resulting from the spin or twist imparted to it by the bowler.
1846W. Denison Sk. Players 12 His delivery is from over the wicket, so there is..scarcely any ‘work’ from it. 1882Evening News 2 Sept. 1/6 The amount of work the bowlers could get on the ball.
4. Action involving effort or exertion directed to a definite end, esp. as a means of gaining one's livelihood; labour, toil; (one's) regular occupation or employment.
c825Vesp. Ps. ciii. 23 Utgaeð mon to werce his. c1000ælfric Exod. xx. 9 Wyrc six daᵹas ealle ðine weorc. c1000Rule of Chrodegang xiv, Niht wæs ᵹeworht to reste ealswa dæᵹ to worce. c1290S. Eng. Leg. 61/248 An Asse..is i-harled here and þere and to file weorke i-do. a1300Cursor M. 5870 Þat..ned-wais suld þai Do tua dais werkes on a dai. Ibid. 21528 Of he kest al to his serk, To mak him nemel til his werk. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxvi. 265 Thorghe werk of his men. 1557–8in Feuillerat Revels Q. Mary (1914) 236 Doinge certen Iobbes of woorke. 1611R. Fenton Usurie 29 A dayes worke is valuable at a certaine price. 1665Phil. Trans. I. 88 In Carpentry and Joyners work. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 618 Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed. 1783Jrnl. Ho. Comm. XLVII. 372/1 To leave off Work perhaps Half an Hour before Bell Ringing. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xxxiv, I do all the work of the house. 1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olive i. 40 There must be work done by the arms, or none of us could live. There must be work done by the brains, or the life we get would not be worth having. 1871Smiles Charac. iv. (1876) 98 Work—employment, useful occupation—is one of the great secrets of happiness. 1895Manch. Guardian 14 Oct. 5/6 Half the workmen employed are Italians, who are said to do four times as much work as the Bulgarians. 1914‘Ian Hay’ Knt. on Wheels xiii. §3 Philip was a glutton for work.
b. Used gen. in reference to any action requiring effort or difficult to do. Often with epithet.
1518Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 141, I had as myche worck as I cowde by ony meanys to pacyffye theyme. 1626Bacon New Atl. 20 Wee had Worke enough to get any of our Men to looke to our Shipp. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. 8 Walking obliquely up a steep hill when the ground is what the vulgar call greasy. Sad work! 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds vi. 76 It..was weary work with any tool but the hatchet. 1864Browning Rabbi Ben Ezra xviii, Here, work enough to watch The Master work, and catch Hints of the proper craft. 1902Buchan Watcher by Threshold 127 It was hard work rowing, for the wind was against him.
c. spec. The labour done in making something, as distinguished from the material used (in reference to the cost); = workmanship 1.
1737W. Salmon Country Builder's Estimator (ed. 2) 25 Steps of common Stairs,..of Oak, 8d. per Foot; the Work only 1d.½ per Foot. Ibid. 26 Whole Deal-Doors..are allowed, work and half work, or double work, if of two-inch Stuff, in consideration of their being wrought on both sides.
d. Exercise or practice in a sport or game; also, exertion or movement proper to a particular sport, game, or exercise.
1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. iii. vi. §2. 194 On all occasions after the day's work, the frictioning must be had recourse to. 1874Kennel Club Stud Bk. 161 Lilly then made a good point, and the other backed very well, these two doing the prettiest work seen as yet. 1877[see worker 2]. 1882Society 7 Oct. 23/1 As a man he has done extraordinary work at long-jumping, sprinting, and hurdle-racing. 1895foot work [see foot n. 35].
5. A particular act or piece of labour; a task, job. Also gen. something difficult to do, a ‘hard task’ (cf. 4 b); or in special connexions, e.g. a particular operation in some manufacture. Obs. exc. Hist.
c960æthelwold Rule St. Benet (Schröer 1885) 65 Ᵹif hy ut an æcere wurc [v.r. weorc] habben [L. si opera in agris habuerint]. c1205Lay. 8709 An are nihte firste þat worc [c 1275 worch] wes iforðed. a1300Cursor M. 5527 Wit herd werckes þai heild þam in. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 136 A þral..vnþryuandely cloþed, Ne no festiual frok, bot fyled with werkkez. 1382Wyclif Gen. iv. 22 Alle werkis of bras and of yrun. c1450Godstow Reg. 318 He ought to mowe the ladies corne ix. daies.., without other werkes that he shold do. 1513Douglas æneis viii. v. heading, In loving of the douchty Hercules The pepill singis his werkis. c1520Skelton Magnyf. 1095 Cockys armys! this is a warke, I trowe. 1580G. Harvey Let. to Spenser Poet. Wks. (1912) 627/2 Vnlesse ye might..haue your meate, and drinke for your dayes workes. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Foundery, The ear of the bell requires a separate work, which is done during the drying of..the cement. 1894Maitland in Engl. Hist. Rev. IX. 419 At the beginning of the fourteenth century we see that some of the ‘works’ were done in kind, while others were ‘sold to the homage’.
†b. In early use applied spec. (in sing. or pl.) to the building or repair of a church. Obs.
Cf. Beowulf 74, Crist 3.
1387E.E. Wills (1882) 1 To the werkes of our lady of Abbechirch xx s. 1398Munim. de Melros (Bann.) 490, I..sal paye ilke wowke..halfe a marc..to þair new werke of Melros. 1428E.E. Wills (1882) 81 Y be-quethe to the wherk of the Ill of the toon side of the Cloistere..vj s viij d. 1482in Charters &c. Edin. (1871) 169 Of ilk schip in generale of gudis ii bollis..to sanct Gelis werk.
c. slang. A criminal act or activity. Cf. job n.2 1 b.
1812J. H. Vaux Vocab. Flash. Lang. in Mem. (1964) 279 An offender having been detected in the very fact..is..said to have been grab'd at work. 1865in Comments on Etym. (1983) XIII. iii.–iv. 17 We..surrounded her from observation while at ‘work’. 1926J. Black You can't Win xxi. 338 Coppers located ‘work’ for burglars and stalled for them while they worked. Ibid. xxiv. 379 That kind of ‘work’ is unprofessional, unnatural, and disgusting. 1963T. Tullett Inside Interpol xiv. 192 If he netted only about 200 guilders he would start ‘work’ again in a week.
6. a. Trouble, affliction; in later use in lighter sense: Disturbance, fuss, ‘ferment’. (See also 31.) b. Pain, ache: see wark n.1 dial.
a900Cynewulf Juliana 569 Þæt þam weliᵹan wæs weorc to þolianne. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9207 Holichirche He bigan to worri & made him þe worse wurche. 1473Paston Lett. III. 92 He seyde that thys troble sholde begyn in Maye,..that the Scotts sholde make us werke. 1676Earl of Anglesey in Essex Papers (Camden) 71 Philipsburgh and Mastrick are sore pressed, and there is hot worke at both. 1717Prior Alma iii. 250 Tokay and Coffee cause this Work, Between the German and the Turk. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton ii, This work about Esther, and not knowing where she is, lies so heavy on my heart. 1896Warwicksh. Gloss. s.v., There'll be nice work over this broken window.
7. Math. The process of or an operation in calculation; a process of calculation written out in full; = working vbl. n. 7, 7 b. Now rare or Obs.
1557Recorde Whetst. Cc ij, The totalle will bei (as here in worke appeareth) 335016. 1623J. Johnson Arith. i. C 1, The proofe of Addition is made by Subtraction; for if you subtract the numbers which you added from the totall of the Addition, there will remaine nothing, if the worke be truly done. a1675Cocker Arith. (1688) 249 Reduce a fraction to its lowest terms at the first Work. Ibid. 270 Quest. 6. What is the Quote of 8 divided by 3/5? Answ. 40/3 which is equal to 131/3... See the work in the margent. 1709J. Ward Introd. Math. (1734) 19 Take a few Examples without their Work at large. 1839Maynard Goodacre's Arith. (ed. 9) 37 When..the remainder is more than the divisor, the quotient figure was too small, the work must be rubbed out, and a larger number supplied.
8. Physics and Mech. The operation of a force in producing movement or other physical change, esp. as a definitely measurable quantity: see quots.
1832W. Whewell First Princ. Mech. iv. 52 The work done does not depend on the pressure alone. Ibid. 53 The work done by a machine may be represented as certain pressures exerted through certain spaces. 1855Rankine Misc. Sci. Papers (1881) 216 ‘Work’ is the variation of an accident by an effort, and is a term comprehending all phenomena in which physical change takes place. Quantity of work is measured by the product of the variation of the passive accident by the magnitude of the effort, when this is constant; or by the integral of the effort, with respect to the passive accident, when the effort is variable. 1873Maxwell Electr. & Magn. (1881) I. 5 The unit of Work is the work done by the unit of force acting through the unit of length measured in its own direction. 1877Atkinson tr. Ganot's Physics (ed. 8) 42 When a force produces acceleration, or when it maintains motion unchanged in opposition to resistance, it is said to do work. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. i. I. §238 In lifting coals from a pit, the amount of work done is proportional to the weight of the coals lifted; that is, to the force overcome in raising them; and also to the height through which they are raised.
II.
9. With possessive: The product of the operation or labour of a person or other agent; the thing made, or things made collectively; creation, handiwork. Also vaguely, the result of one's labour, something accomplished.
c825Vesp. Psalter viii. 7 Ᵹesettes hine ofer werc honda ðinra. Ibid. cxliv. 10 Ondettað ðe, dryhten, all werc ðin. c888ælfred Boeth. v. §3 Ic wat ðætte God rihtere is his aᵹenes weorces. 971Blickl. Hom. 207 Wæs þæt ilce hus eac hwem draᵹen, nalas æfter ᵹewunan mennisces weorces þæt þa waᵹas wæron rihte. 1382Wyclif 2 Chron. xx. 37 For thou haddist couenaunt of pese with Ochosia, the Lord smote thi werkes. ― Jer. i. 16 Hem, that..offreden to aliene goddis, and honoureden the werc of ther hondis. c140026 Pol. Poems xxiv. 236 Lord, þou shalt clepe me, And I shal answere to þe, werk of þyn hande. 1535Coverdale Isa. lxiv. 8 We all are the worke of thy hondes. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 156 Thether the workes of euery familie be brought. a1593Marlowe & Nashe Dido iii. ii, Ile make the Clowdes dissolue their watrie workes. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 59 The Almighty Father..bent down his eye, His own works and their works at once to view. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 809 The waxen Work of lab'ring Bees. 1773Ld. Monboddo Lang. (1774) I. Pref. 1 Man in his natural state is the work of God. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. iv, And now thy work, where is thy work? Swift, out with it; let us see thy work! 1847Tennyson Princess iii. 281 Dare we dream of that..Which wrought us, as the workman and his work, That practice betters? 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 298 Workmen and also their works are alike apt to degenerate. 1890Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (ed. 4) 102 Mine's work, good work that lives!
b. The result of the action or operation of some person or thing; ‘effect, consequence of agency’ (J.); (one's) ‘doing’; the device or invention of some one.
1382Wyclif Isa. xxxii. 17 Ther shal be the werk of riȝtwisnesse pes. 1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 364 Looke on the Tragicke Loading of this bed: This is thy worke. 1667Milton P.L. v. 112 Mimic Fansie..misjoyning shapes, Wilde work produces oft, and most in dreams. 1707Curios. Husb. & Gard. 35 This wonderful Œconomy for the Propagation..of Animals can not be the Work of the fortuitous meeting of Atoms. 1753Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. 171 Other Hereticks..condemned Marriage as the Work of the Devil. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. iv, What has been between us has been the work of the law, not my doing. 1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xxiii, This suggestion, the work of the pipe.
10. Without possessive: A thing made; a manufactured article or object; a structure or apparatus of some kind, esp. one forming part of a larger thing. Now chiefly in generalized sense with qualification, esp. in established compounds such as brickwork, firework, framework, latticework, wax-work.
c825Epinal Gloss. 699 Opere plumario, bisiuuidi uuerci. 1382Wyclif Isa. xxix. 16 As if..the werk sey to his makere, Thou hast not mad me. c1470Henry Wallace v. 1135 Tre wark thai brynt, that was in to tha wanys. 1535Coverdale Ezek. i. 15, I sawe a worke off wheles vpon the earth. 1591Raleigh Last Fight of Revenge (Arb.) 21 All her tackle cut a sunder, her vpper worke altogither rased. 1598Barret Theor. Mod. Warres 134 Eight men who haue in their charge the iron workes, cables, anchors, and grappling. 1621Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Iron & Steel (1858) 1 The misterie and arte of meltinge iron ewre, and of making the same into cast workes or barrs. 1697Dryden æneis viii. 825 The radiant Arms beneath an Oak she plac'd... He rowl'd his greedy sight Around the Work. 1706Phillips, Pastry, Work made of Paste or Dough. 1805T. Lindley Voy. Brazil 45 A long arched vault, with a plank work on one side. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Foundery, Foundery of statues, great guns, and bells... The matter of these large works is..commonly a mixture of several [metals].
†11. An architectural or engineering structure, as a house, bridge, pier, etc.; a building, edifice.
a900Cynewulf Crist 3 Se weallstan þe ða wyrhtan iu wiðwurpon to weorce. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 368 Se ðe ne bytlað of ðam grundwealle, his weorc hryst to micclum lyre. 1076–85Westm. Abbey Domesday Book lf. 463 De quadam mansione terre apud London quam Anglica lingua ‘Vuerc’ appellant. c1205Lay. 16951 He lette bulden halles & rihte al þa workes þe ær weore to-brosene. a1300Cursor M. 8780 Þe wrightes þat suld rais þe werck. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Petrus) 14 Þu art petir, at is, oure stane, to byg myn wark one haff I tane. c1450Merlin ii. 27 The mountayne that the werke was sette on gan to tremble. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. I iij b, This warke that is in buyldynge. 1660M. Carter Honor Rediv. 248 Gresham Colledge... This famous work and most worthy Colledge. 1667Milton P.L. i. 731 The work some praise And some the Architect.
b. pl. Architectural or engineering operations. Clerk of the Works, Master of the Works: see clerk n. 6 c, master n.1 19 a.
a1700Evelyn Diary 12 Sept. 1641, The New Citidall was advancing with innumerable hands,..I was permitted to walk the round and view the workes. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo vi. 66, I had works in progress all up and down the line.
12. spec. (Mil.) A fortified building, fortress, fort; a defensive structure, fortification; any one of the several parts of such a structure (often in pl.). Also as second element of a compound, as earth-work, field-work, hornwork, outwork, etc.
The continental equivalent is found in bulwark.
a1000Daniel 44 To ceastre..þær Israela æhta wæron bewriᵹene mid weorcum. c1470Henry Wallace xi. 19 Fortrace, and werk that was with out the toun, Thai brak, and brynt. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 137 b, He taketh Turrine,..and fortifieth it with workes and strength of men. 1604Shakes. Oth. iii. ii. 3, I will be walking on the Workes. 1613― Hen. VIII, v. iv. 61, I was faine to..let 'em win the Worke. 1669Stayured Fortification 4 There may be..occasion in Forts to raise..Platforms, or Batteries, to command all the other Works. 1755R. Rogers Jrnls. (1769) 6, I..sent out four men as spies, who..informed me, that the enemy had no works round them, but lay entirely open to an assault. 1826J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans xv, Some six or eight thousand men..whom their leader wisely judges to be safer in their works than in the field. 1834–47J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 87 If the ditches of a work can be filled with water, it is an excellent means of defence. 1879Tennyson Def. Lucknow ii, Frail were the works that defended the hold that we held with our lives.
13. A literary or musical composition (viewed in relation to its author or composer); often pl. and collect. sing., (a person's) writings or compositions as a whole.
a1300Cursor M. 112 In hir wirschip wald I bigyn A last⁓and warc apon to myn. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints v. (Johannes) 524 Als tellis elynandus Of sancte Johnnis varkis, sayand þus, Quhene he suld þe ewangel wryte [etc.]. c1450J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. Prol. 1 Than wil I, in þe name of our Lord Ihesu, beginne þis werk. c1520Skelton Garl. Laurel 381 Plutarke and Petrarke..With Vincencius..that wrote noble warkis. 1525Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 111 Ony bukys or verkys of the saide Lutheris. 1540–1Elyot Image Gov. 41 He made also a newe lybrary, garnyshyng it..with most principall warkes in euery science. 1555Instit. Gentl. K vj b, Alexander Magnus..vsed alwayes to carrye wyth hym the woorkes of Homer. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 681 When I was first writing this worke. 1711Addison Spect. No. 124 ⁋1 A Man who publishes his Works in a Volume. 1837Dickens Pickw. xv, The famous foreigner—gathering materials for his great work on England. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair i, A Johnson's Dictionary—the interesting work which she invariably presented to her scholars on their departure. 1865Max Müller Chips (1880) I. i. 18 This title distinguishes the Vedic hymns..from all other works. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. 116 Bach wrote unceasingly.., and the quantity of his works is enormous. 1885Manch. Exam. 11 Nov. 3/3 It bears a stronger resemblance to the work of ‘Ouida’ than to that of any other English writer. 1900W. P. Ker Ess. Dryden Introd. p. xix, The history of Corneille's original work.
14. A product of any of the fine arts (in relation to the artist), as a painting, a statue, etc. In the phr. a work of art including, besides these, literary or musical works (13), and connoting high artistic quality. Also (without pl.), artistic production in the abstract, or artistic products collectively.
1531Elyot Gov. i. viii, Pandenus, a counnyng painter,..required the craftis man to shewe him where he had the..paterne of so noble a warke. 1539Bible (Great) Ps. lxxiv. 6 They breake downe all y⊇ carued worcke therof. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. ii. 107 Her Mothers Statue..by that rare Italian Master, Iulio Romano, who (had he himselfe Eternitie, and could put Breath into his Worke) would beguile Nature of her Custome. 1611Cotgr., Ouvrage de Marqueterie, Checker-worke, or Inlaid worke, of sundrie colours. a1721Prior Dial., Locke & Montaigne Wks. 1907 ii. 243 Your Work is meer Grotesque, half images of Centaures and Sphynxes trailing into Flowers and branches. 1736T. Atkinson Conf. Painter & Engraver 16 If the Engraver..with masterly shading Touches improve the Work. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. vii, [The portrait] is considered a perfect likeness, and the best work of the master. 1877S. Redgrave Descr. Catal. Water-Col. 22 Protect your drawings..from the utter destruction so many fine works have suffered from exposure to the direct rays of the sun. 1883Atlantic Monthly Jan. 86 The homage of rapt appreciation due to a great work of art. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 43 The carved work mouldered fast 'Neath the suns, and the frosts.
†15. Make, workmanship; esp. ornamental workmanship (phr. of work = ornamental). Obs.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. i. 179 Colers of crafty werke. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 46 Ane ymage of stane of alde werk. 1424E.E. Wills (1882) 56 Too fyne borde-clothes, þe one of werk, þe oþer playn. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. vii. (1883) 140 A gate of marble of meruayllous werke. 1529Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 57 My best ioyned bed of Flaunders wourke. 1603in Gage Hengrave (1822) 26 One large coobard carpett..of Turkeye work. a1700Evelyn Diary 17 Nov. 1644, A rare clock of German worke. Ibid. 18 Jan. 1645, The walls..are incrusted with most precious marbles of various colours and workes. 1795H. Cowley Town before you i. iii. 9 Why did I never tell you before that she is a sculptor. She has a large room full of fine things of her own work.
b. concr. An ornamental pattern or figure, ornament, ornamentation, decoration. Obs. or merged in other senses.
c1467Noble Bk. Cookry (1882) 52 Mak gret coffynes with lowe liddes..and lay on the liddes wild werks. 1547in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 11 Cootes..of clothe of golde with workes. 1622Mourt's Relat. Engl. Plant. 12 Baskets..curiously wrought with blacke and white in pretie workes. Ibid. 38 Their faces..painted,..some with crosses, and other Antick workes. a1700Evelyn Diary 23 Mar. 1646, The bed was dress'd up with flowers, and the counter⁓pan strewed in workes.
16. The operation of making a textile fabric or (more often) something consisting of such fabric, as weaving or (usually) sewing, knitting, or the like; esp. any of the lighter operations of this kind, as a distinctively feminine occupation; also concr. the fabric or the thing made of it, esp. while being made or operated upon; needlework, embroidery, or the like.
See also drawn-work, fancy work, lace-work, open-work, etc.
1382–[see needlework]. [ 1390Gower Conf. II. 41 Whan sche takth hir werk on honde Of wevinge or enbrouderie.] 1440in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) App. 182 A vestment of baudekyn y⊇ ground black with grene Werk. 1530Palsgr. 290/1 Worke made of woll, œuure de layne, lanifice. 1560Bible (Genev.) Ezek. xvi. 10, I clothed thee also with broydred worke. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xli. 320 Their maner of weaving their workes, being both sides alike. 1783Johnson Let. to Miss Thrale (1788) II. 290 Your time, my love, passes, I suppose, in devotion, reading, work, and company... Of work, unless I understood it better, it will be of no great use to say much. 1795H. Cowley Town before you i. i. 2 Mrs. Fancourt..(rising and laying down her work). 1842Dickens Amer. Notes iii, The work she had knitted, lay beside her. 1862Lytton Str. Story xlviii, Taking pleasure..not in music, nor books, nor that tranquil pastime which women call work. 1882Besant All Sorts vii. (1898) 65 On the other side [sat] a girl, with work on her lap, sewing.
17. An excavation in the earth, made for the purpose of obtaining metals or minerals; a mine. Obs. exc. = working vbl. n. 16.
1475tyn werk [see tin n. 5]. 1482Cely Papers (Camden) 113 All the gounes yn the colle warkys and abowte the marttes were schett for joye. 1540–1Elyot Image Gov. 46 He wolde haue them sent into..the iles called Cassiterides, to labour in tynne workes. 1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 400 Sauffand the werk and mynd of Glengonar and Wenlok. 1604G. Bowes in Cochran-Patrick Early Rec. Mining Scot. (1878) 111 Clensing an ould worke..I found the same 13th feette deepe. c1610in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 15 After..his collyers have wrought sixe dayes in the workes. 1665cole-workes [see coal-work 2]. 1769Ann. Reg., Chron. 102 Four colliers at work in a pit near Whitehaven, were all suffocated by the foul air of an old adjoining work. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m., Work, a stall or working place.
b. A kind of trench in draining. local.
1653W. Blithe Eng. Improver Impr. vii. 93 Cut a good substantiall Trench about thy Bog..; And..make one work or two just overthwart it. 1794T. Davis Agric. Wilts 31 That the disposition of the trenches (provincially ‘the works of the meadow,’) should be uniform. 1799T. Wright Art of Floating Land 60 That one feeder made diagonally, and two others in different directions..will..with the assistance of the smaller works..be competent to effect a regular distribution of the water.
18. pl. An establishment where some industrial labour, esp. manufacture, is carried on, including the whole of the buildings and machinery used; a factory, manufactory, etc. In later use commonly construed as sing., in earlier use (to c 1860) also in sing. form. Often as the second element of a compound; see references below.
1581iron workes, 1634–5 iron-work [see ironwork 2]. 1617allome workes [see alum n. 5]. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 273 The servants,..in both the works, were upwards of three hundred. 1748in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918) 24 At Liverpool. We went to see..silk works where one wheel works above 300 Twisting bobbins. 179.Burns Verses on window at Carron, We came na here to view your warks In hopes to be mair wise. 1819–gas works [see gas n.1 7]. 1822tan-work [see tan n.1 C. 1]. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton vii, During the half-hour allowed at the works for tea. 1882Daily News 4 Mar., A new works for the manufacture of steel wire. 1898Mrs. H. Ward Helbeck iii. i, On night-duty at a large engineering ‘works’.
attrib.1885W. S. Hutton (title) The Works Manager's Hand-Book. 1901Scotsman 11 Mar. 8/7 The position of the directors.., of their consulting chemist, and of their works chemist.
b. Phr. in the works = in the pipeline s.v. pipe-line n. b. N. Amer.
1973Globe & Mail (Toronto) 12 July 2/3 In his statement, Mr. Cote said he had been informed during the election campaign that a ‘telegraph organization was in the works in certain ridings of the South Shore’. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 16 Oct. 10/3 As might be expected, a movie deal is in the works. 1979Tucson Mag. Jan. 10/3 Actually there is a sequel in the works and the project was begun as a two film package. 1984National Times (Austral.) 2 Nov. 41/2 There are, of course, follow-up books in the works.
19. Something that is to be or is being operated upon: in various connexions (see quots.; cf. also 15).
1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. x. 190 The Diameter of the Work they intend to Turn in the Lathe. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 104 Boil the work, either in alum-water, or aqua fortis. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Work. Ore not yet dressed.
20. A set of parts forming a machine or piece of mechanism: orig. sing., esp. as the second element of compounds (see references below); as an independent word now only pl., the internal mechanism of a clock or watch, which actuates the hands or the striking apparatus.
Also (colloq.) humorously applied to the internal organs or viscera of an animal, as in to take out the works = to ‘draw’ a fowl, etc., or of a person.
a1628–[see clock-work]. 1667–[see watchwork]. 1670–[see wheelwork]. 1766A. Cumming (title) Elements of Clock and Watch-work. 1769W. Emerson Mechanics 109 This work is within the watch between the two plates. 1773T. Mudge Descr. Timekeeper (1799) 40 The repeating work. Ibid., The balance work. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Watch, The interior works of an ordinary watch. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Parish ii, He took to pieces the eight-day clock..under pretence of cleaning the works. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxii. 333 Here we're a running on this way, and you hain't told me a word about Sis, nor any of them. Now I'll rest my works a little, and you start up yourn. 1885― in Century Mag. Dec. 196/1 Then it would bray—..spreading its jaws till you could see down to its works. It was a disagreeable animal. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xv. 197 'Ceptin fer er hun⁓expected wail he jerked out iv 'is works now 'n 'again, that cat was just er livin' silence.
b. slang (orig. U.S.). the (whole) works, the whole lot, everything; esp. in phrases, to give (or tell) the works: to tell the whole story; to shoot the works: see shoot v. 23 j; to give (someone) the works: to give (him) a rough time, spec. to murder; also, to give (someone) the full treatment (not necessarily unpleasant); to get the works: to receive severe punishment, reprimand, adverse criticism, etc.
1899J. London Let. 18 May (1966) 38, I..quite enjoyed the thought of saying good-bye to the whole works. 1920Collier's 5 June 36/3 ‘I ain't trying to jimmy into your most intimate affairs, but is they—is they a girl?’.. He..sat down..and gimme the works. 1927Vanity Fair XXIX. 134/2 ‘Giving a guy the works’ is handing someone a raw deal. 1928Amer. Mercury Apr. 429/2 One-Lung here squealed, an' I got the works for two years—poundin' rocks wit' a sledge. 1929C. F. Coe Hooch vii. 156 This man never was bumped here at all. They gave him the works some place a long way off. 1930Daily Express 23 May 11/3 Threatening that unless the money was produced somebody would ‘get the works’. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves ix. 111 Heave a couple of sighs. Grab her hand. And give her the works. 1936J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle iii. 35 Tell him the works. 1969E. Bagnold Autobiogr. xii. 236 The Chinese Prime Minister is a better play than The Chalk Garden but it didn't get the works. 1979L. Kallen Introducing C. B. Greenfield xiv. 193, I have uncovered a sensational story that is crying to be written... Best⁓seller list, movie, the works.
c. pl. A drug addict's equipment for taking drugs. U.S. slang.
1934L. Berg Revelations of Prison Doctor iv. 42 All became adept in the use of ‘the works’; this was a syringe and needle. 1951N.Y. Times 15 June 14/3 Do they ask you if you want the ‘works’ when you're buying needles? 1953W. Burroughs Junkie xiv. 140, I went into the bathroom to get my works. Needle, dropper, and a piece of cotton.
21. A froth produced by fermentation in the manufacture of vinegar: cf. work v. 33.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 4 To..see if the fermentation [of the vinegar] has been complete..we plunge into the liquor a white stick or rod..: if it be covered with a white thick froth, to which is given the name of work (travail), we judge that the operation is terminated.
III. Phrases. (See also above senses.)
* with work as obj. of a preposition.
†22. a work, awork [a prep.1]: = at, on, to work (23, 26, 28, 29); esp. in to set a work. Obs. exc. as in a-work (q.v.).
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 16 Monkis and freris assenten to werris wiþouten cause, and bringen þes lordis awerke. c1400Sowdone Bab. 2599 Tho was Durnedale set a werke. 1450Paston Lett. I. 167 Asay how ye can sett hem a werk in the Parlement. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye ii. 67 That your redyng & study be..pryncypally to enforme your selfe, & to set yt a warke in youre owne lyuynge. 1480Cov. Leet Bk. 431 That they that set them awarke shuld pay for hym. 1530Palsgr. 712/2 Sette hym nat a worke, he can do yvell ynoughe of hymselfe. 1556in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 4. 175 Beggers..to be sett a worke, & be compelled..to gett their owne lyvinges. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 437 The Gods and Demons being first made, by the Supreme God, were set a work..by him afterward in the making of man. 1694W. Wotton Anc. & Mod. Learn. (1697) 371 To set their Members awork to collect a perfect History of Nature. a1716South Serm. (1823) I. 170 To move and set a work the great principles of actions.
23. at work.
Used predicatively with set (set v.1 25); to work is now more usual (see 29).
a. Occupied with labour; engaged in a task; working, esp. at one's regular occupation. (Of a person or animal; also of a machine.)
1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. i. 74, I was set [= seated] at worke, Among my Maids. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xvii. ⁋1 That the Matrice fly or start not back when it is at Work. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 369/2 You may rest your right Hand or Arm upon it [sc. the maulstick],..whilst you are at work [sc. painting]. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables ccccxl. 417 You [the Mole] have Nothing for Digging 'tis True; but pray who set you at Work? 1709Strype in Thoresby's Lett. (1832) II. 235 The book will make one hundred sheets..there are three presses at work about it. 1765Goldsm. Ess. Misc. Wks. 1837 I. 351 We may..set beggars at work. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop x, The poor woman was still hard at work at an ironing-table. 1882Besant All Sorts xxxii. (1898) 222 The street..was as quiet as on the Sunday, the children being at school and the men at work.
b. gen. Occupied in some action or process, esp. one directed to a definite end or result; actively engaged; operating. (Of persons or their faculties, or of animals; also of forces or influences.)
1655Clarke Papers (Camden) III. 17 The Blades..who were att worke to have brought new troubles uppon us. c1680Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 344 The Father is always at work in the government of the world. a1700Evelyn Diary 7 Oct. 1688, The Jesuites hard at worke to foment confusion among the Protestants. 1820Southey Wesley I. 3 He has set mightier principles at work. 1862Cornh. Mag. V. 35 The mare..continued her feeding. How she enjoyed this plashy young grass! She had been at work in this way for the last five or six hours. 1887Lowell Democracy etc. 12 The little kernel of leaven that sets the gases at work. a1890Liddon Life Pusey (1893) II. 151 Newman..was at work on his article on ‘The Catholicity of the English Church’. Ibid. 170 The same influence..was already at work.
c. in passive sense: In process of being worked.
1911Act 1 & 2 Geo. V c. 50 §36 Two shafts..with which every seam for the time being at work in the mine shall have a communication.
24. in work.
a. † (a) = at work, 23 a; (b) in regular occupation; also with qualifying adj., as in full work, in good work = working full time or remuneratively.
1535Coverdale 1 Chron. x. [ix.] 33 Daye and night were they in worke withall. 1568Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 328, I am content to set some of my men in work. c1610in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 15 It is mutche wished..that suche an ingein may be seene in worcke. 1842W. C. Taylor Notes Tour Lancs. 39 When in good work the united earnings of both averaged about 30s. weekly.
†b. to put in work: (a) to make use of; (b) to put in operation: = set to work, 29. Obs.
c1400Mandeville (1839) xxviii. 288 In that Contree..men putten in werke the Sede of Cotoun. 1626C. Potter tr. Sarpi's Hist. Quarrels 100 The Iesuites..put in worke all their artifices. 1653Urquhart tr. Rabelais i. viii. 41 For his Gloves were put in work sixteen Otters skins,..for the bordering of them. 1664J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 193 These rude Remains being put in Work, in his Judgment, before the Flood.
25. of work.
a. piece of work: see piece n. 7.
b. ― of all work († works): employed in all kinds of work, esp. in a household: chiefly in maid-of-all-work (see maid n.1 4 b); hence allusively.
1775Pennsylv. Even. Post 30 Mar. 114/2 Advt., Wanted a complete Servant for a Place of all Work, in a middling Family. 1797Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxxviii, Two maids and two men, indeed..! No, no; they must get a stout girl of all works. 1821Scott Mrs. Radcliffe Biogr. Mem. (1834) I. 359 A garrulous waiting-maid;..a villain or two of all work. 1821Byron Reply to Southey Wks. (1846) 513/1 This arrogant scribbler of all work. 1822― Vis. Judgem. c, Mine is a pen of all work. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. iii. 97 The kitchen servant-of-all-work.
†26. on work, in to set (a person, etc.) on work = to work (29). Obs.
1549Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 40 To the setting his subiectes on worke, and kepyng them from idlenes. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia Transl. Ep. (1895) 16 Hauing no profitable busines wherupon to sette himself on worke. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. Wks. (1904) 239 His witte shalbe new set on worke. 1576Gascoigne Droome of Doomesday Wks. 1910 I. 224 They..buyld houses,..till feildes,..and set milles on worke. a1645Featly Reynolds in Fuller Abel Rediv. (1651) 487 It pleased his Majesty to set some learned men on worke, to translate the Bible. 1692Norris Pract. Disc. Div. Subj. (1722) III. 134 When the Powers of the Soul shall be more awaken'd, and its thoughts more vehemently set on work. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lii. 401 By setting on work such immense numbers of our manufacturers.
27. out of work (out of 11 b): having no work to do, unemployed, workless. Also (with hyphens) attrib., or as n.; hence out-of-worker; out-of-workness.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 114 All out of worke, and cold for action. 1864J. O'Neil Diary 10 Apr. in J. Burnett Useful Toil (1974) i. 85 One half of the time I was out of work and the other I had to work as hard as ever I wrought in my life. 1885Marine Engineer 1 Sept. 157/2 ‘Out-of-work benefit’ came to {pstlg}57,000. 1886Daily News 4 Feb. 5/7 The Amalgamated Engineers..had lost {pstlg}40,000 last year in out-of-work pay. 1887Spectator 4 June 763/2 Afraid of being out of work. 1888[see out of III.]. 1894A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets 48 The advent of a flush sailor.., disposed to treat out-o'-workers. 1903A. McNeill Egregious Engl. v. 49 Out-of-workness is..the most fearful thing in life that can happen to an Englishman. 1906Westm. Rev. Jan. 39 The unemployed of all classes, including the genuine out-of-works. 1913A. Spender in H. Barnett Canon S. A. Barnett (1918) II. xlvi. 273 How to tide over the winter for the out-of-work docker. 1939‘G. Orwell’ Coming Up for Air ii. ix. 153 We'd suddenly changed from gentlemen..into miserable out-of-works whom nobody wanted. 1955M. Gilbert Sky High viii. 105 He was an out-of-work actor. 1974R. Butler Buffalo Hook v. 45 I'm just an out-of-work who wants to stay that way.
28. to go to work (go v. 34): to proceed to some action (expressed or implied); to begin doing something; to commence operations. So to fall to work (see fall v. 67 e).
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 347 Vche a mayde that he mette he made hir a signe Semynge to synne-ward..and to the werke ȝeden. 1393Ibid. C. vii. 181 To werke we ȝeden. 1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1811/1 Say your mind, & go briefly to worke: for I think it almost dinner time. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. ii. (1912) 152 Swearing he never knew man go more aukewardly to worke. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iv. i. 36 Ile go another way to worke with him: Ile haue an action of Battery against him. 1718Free-thinker No. 20 ⁋2, I shall go a shorter and a plainer way to work. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 363 This parliament..went expeditiously to work upon the business of reformation. 1890Temple Bar July 329 His wits went instantly to work.
29. to set to work (set v.1 112, 113).
a. trans. (a) To set (a person, the faculties, etc.) to a task, or to do something; less commonly, to put (a thing) in action; refl. to apply oneself to labour, or to some occupation or undertaking; to set about doing something.
1497–8in Archæol. Jrnl. (1886) XLIII. 168 A fyne..for werkyng by nyght & settyng to werk a child vnbound & vnablid. c1520Skelton Magnyf. 1246 A nysot..That wyll syt ydyll..And can not set herselfe to warke. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 246, I set Friday to Work to boiling and stewing. 1749Smollett Gil Blas xii. i. (1782) IV. 211 The time draws near when I shall set thy address to work. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. (1842) 105 Such a lamp..is..soon set to work, and as soon extinguished. 1867‘Ouida’ Cecil Castlemaine, etc. 235 Somebody else daring him to go in for honours,..he set himself to work to show them all what he could do. 1879Sala Paris Herself Again xxxi, The owners set their wits to work.
† (b) To begin working upon: cf. 23 c. Obs.
1694T. Houghton Royal Instit. Ded. A 3 Which Veyns and Mines, if they was..Set to Work, by any that understands them, would..prove as Rich.
b. intr. for refl.: see a (a): = 28.
1691W. Nicholls Answ. Naked Gospel 92 The Doctor sets to work to his exposition of the Trinity. 1782R. Cumberland Anecd. Emin. Painters I. 147 The devout painter sate to work. 1825New Monthly Mag. XVI. 353, I..set to work at another two-act piece. 1889H. D. Traill Strafford iv. 46 Charles..set seriously to work to govern alone.
** with work as obj. of a verb. (See also 3 b.)
30. to cut out work for a person: to prepare work to be done by him, to give him something to do; now only to have (all) one's work cut out (for one) (colloq.): to have enough, or as much as one can manage, to do.
1619,1795[see cut v. 57 l]. 1843Dickens Christmas Carol ii. 61 Old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them. 1862Trollope Orley F. II. xxxi. 247 Then Mr. Chaffanbrass rose..and every one knew that his work was cut out for him. 1866[see cut v. 57 l]. 1874Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xxii. 276 What with one thing and another, I see that my work is well cut out for me. 1879H. C. Powell Amateur Athletic Ann. 19 This [race] Crossley had all his work cut out to win. 1893R. L. Stevenson Catriona vii. 71 ‘Ye'll find your work cut out for ye to establish that,’ quoth she. 1899E. W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman 43 ‘We shall have our work cut out,’ was all I said. 1927R. A. Freeman Magic Casket vii. 222 ‘You will have your work cut out,’ I remarked, ‘to trace that man. The potter's description was pretty vague.’ 1951Sport 27 Jan.–2 Feb. 9/3 The Quakers will have their work cut out to keep the bigger clubs away.
31. to make work.
a. (also to make a work): To work havoc or confusion; hence, to make a to-do or fuss, to cause disturbance or trouble (cf. 6); † in quot. 1574, to trouble oneself to do something. dial.
1530Palsgr. 616/2 He maketh suche a worke whan he cometh that all the house is wery of hym. 1574Satir. Poems Reform. xlii. 234 Thay maid na werk To seek ony. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 136 These women..like some Phisitions, make work where all was well before. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. iv. 20 There is Auffidious. List what worke he makes Among'st your cloven Army. 1678Lauderdale Papers (Camden 1885) III. 102 It is a foolish thing for scots men to complain or make worke heir, or to endeavour a Rebellion in scotland. 1867E. B. Ramsay's Remin. (ed. 15) 30 People make a work if a minister preach the same sermon over again. 1816Scott Antiq. ix, Ou dear! Monkbarns, what's the use of making a wark? 1884Walford Baby's Grandmother iv, Passing in and out and making no end of a work.
b. to make work for: to give (a person, etc.) something to do.
1595Shakes. John ii. i. 303 Yong Arthur..Who..this day hath made Much worke for teares in many an English mother. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 238 Lest by sauing their workmanship, my selfe might haue made worke for the hang-man. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 2 To make more Work for the Hempen Whores in London.
c. with qualifying adj., as to make good work, short work, sure (etc.) work (of or with a person or thing): to do the business, or deal with the person or thing, well, shortly, surely, etc.; often with special implication, as to make short work of or with, to destroy or put an end to quickly; to settle and dismiss peremptorily; to make sure work with, to secure, to get safely into one's possession or control.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. vi. 35 Come with me, & we will make short worke. 1607― Cor. iv. vi. 95, 100 You haue made good worke, You and your Apron men... You haue made faire worke. 1608Topsell Serpents 265 Hauing made sure worke with one, she [sc. the spider] hyeth her to the Center of her Web, obseruing..whether any newe prey will come. 1706M. Henry Gen. xxxviii. 7 Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners. a1774Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance (1775) I. 164 Believing they would at last make shorter work with me, and dispatch me with pistols. 1789Twining Aristotle's Treat. Poetry (1812) II. 52 Seeing what strange work Lord Shaftsbury has made with this passage in his..translation of it. 1824Scott Redgauntlet let. xi, Wild wark they made of it; for the Whigs were as dour as the Cavaliers were fierce. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, It is a very awful tale, sir, but I will make short work of it. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xli, The Doctor, on his..mare, was making good work of it across the plains. 1885Law Times LXXIX. 169/2 A Lords Committee would probably make very short work of these precedents.
*** with qualifying adj. (or phr.: see also 1 c, d, 14, 31 c).
32. good work: a morally commendable or virtuous act; an act of kindness or good will; esp. (in religious and theological use) an act of piety; usually pl. such acts done in obedience to divine law, or as the fruits of faith or godliness (cf. 1 b).
c1000Rule of Chrodegang i, Þurh soðe lufe & þurh hyrsumnesse & þurh oðre gode worc. c1020Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 14 Ᵹif beteran oðram on godum weorcum & eadmodren we beoð ᵹemette. c1175Lamb. Hom. 9 Oðre godere werke þe nu were long eou to telle. a1300Cursor M. 26525 Es na god werc wit-vten mede, Ne na wick wit-vten wrak. 1340Ayenb. 160 Zigge ich wel, þet in on wyt þise zeue uirtues be-uore yzed byeþ þe boȝes of riȝtuolnesse, and al þet frut of guod workes þet of ham wexeþ belongeþ to þise trawe. 1382Wyclif Matt. xxvi. 10 What be ȝe heuy [gloss or sory] to this womman? sothely a good work she hath wrouȝt in me. c1449Pecock Repr. i. iii. 13 He ouȝte be douȝty and strong into gode werkis. 1516Kal. New Leg. Eng. (Pynson) 2 He dyed in great Age full of good werkes & vertues. 1596Harington Metam. Ajax 41 When a man hath done but two good workes in all his life. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Rest. 183 Those times are to be shunned at the beginning of any good work. 1724Erskine Serm., Tit. iii. 8 Wks. (1791) 92 To make a work a good work, it must be done, by a good and holy person, renewed by the Spirit of Christ, and justified by his merit. a1819G. Hill Lect. Div. v. iii. (1850) 472 Good works are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. 1887J. Hutchison Lect. Phil. iii. 25 Every good work wrought within us and wrought by us.
b. In trivial sense, esp. in phrases carry on with, get on with, keep up, etc. the good work.
1920‘Sapper’ Bull-Dog Drummond xii. 309 Vallance Nestor carried the good work on. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock vii. ix. 347 Drink up. We better get on with the good work. a1953E. O'Neill Long Day's Journey (1956) i. 17 So keep up the good work, Mary.
****
33. Proverbs and proverbial sayings.
14..[see hand n. 62 e]. c1530R. Hilles Comm.-pl. Bk. (1858) 140 Meny hondys makyth lyght werke. 1670Ray Prov. 158 All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. 1897Globe 9 July 1/2 Heroic conduct of this type has to be, and is, regarded by British officers..as ‘all in the day's work’.
IV.
34. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib., as work-boat, work-chant, work-hour, work-life, work light, work-load (load n. 4 c), work-norm (norm 1 c), work-pause, work-place, work-plan, work-room, work-site, work-song, work-thing, work-time, work-tool, work-week, work-yard (see also work-day, etc.); (of persons) employed in manual, mechanical, or industrial labour, as work-gang, work-girl, work-lass, work-person, work-servant (see also work-folk, -man, etc.); (of animals) used for work on a farm or otherwise (= ‘of burden’ or ‘of draught’), as work-beast, work-horse, work-mare, work-nag, work-ox, work-steer, work-stock (cf. OE. weorcníeten); (of clothes) worn for work, as work boot, work-clothes, work pants, work-shirt, work-shoe, work-wear; pertaining to or used for needlework or the like (see 16), as work-case, work-desk, work-drawer, work-pattern, work-stand (see also work-bag, etc. in d). b. Objective, etc., as work-seeker; work-producing adj.c. Instrumental, as work-driven, work-gnarled, work-hard, work-hardened, work-soiled, work-stained, work-thickened, work-wan, work-weary, work-worn adjs.d. Special comb.: work-and-back Printing = sheet-work s.v. sheet n.1 12 b; work and tumble, work and turn, work and twist, methods of printing the second side of a sheet of paper from the same forme as the first (see quots.); work-bag, -basket, a bag, or basket, to contain implements and materials for needlework; work-bench, a bench, with accessories, at which mechanics work, esp. a carpenter's bench; work-board, a board upon which some kind of manual work is done; work book, (a) in a business firm etc., a book containing a record of daily duties, work (to be) done, etc.; (b) (chiefly U.S.), a book in which are set out problems to be worked out, questions to be answered, etc.; work-box, a box to contain instruments and materials for needlework; work camp orig. U.S., (a) a camp organized for a work project, esp. by volunteers serving the community; (b) = labour camp s.v. labour, labor n. 8; work card, (a) a card issued by one's employer and serving as a kind of identity document; (b) a pupil's card on which are set out questions to be answered, problems to be worked, etc. (cf. work-book (b) above); work-covenant Theol. = Covenant of Works (see covenant n. 8 a, and cf. sense 1 b above); work ethic, work seen as virtuous in itself, a term usu. connected with Protestant attitudes and deriving from Max Weber's thesis on the origins of modern capitalism (cf. Protestant ethic s.v. Protestant a. 1 b); work experience, work projects arranged for the purpose of providing experience of employment, esp. for school-leavers; work-fellow = work-mate; work-field, (a) a field or piece of ground used for training in farm-work; (b) a ‘field’ of work, region of activity; work flow, in an office or industrial organization, the sequence of processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion; work-force, the workers or employees collectively, usu. of a particular firm or industry; work furlough U.S., leave of absence from prison by day in order to continue in one's daily work; work group, (a) a group of people in a factory or the like who customarily work together; (b) = work party (a) below; work-hand, (a) [hand n. 8] a person employed by another to do work; (b) with defining adj. [hand n. 9], as a good work-hand, one who is a ‘good hand’ at work, a capable worker; work-harden v. trans. Metallurgy, to toughen (a metal) by cold-working; also intr., to become tough as a result of cold-working; so work-hardened ppl. a., work-hardening vbl. n.; work head, (a) = headstock 1 b; (b) an interchangeable working attachment for a powered implement or tool; work-holder, a device in a sewing-machine for holding the work or fabric; † work-holy a. Theol., aiming at or pretending to holiness on the ground of works (see 1 b); work-horse, (a) a horse used for work on a farm; (b) fig., a machine, person, etc., that dependably performs arduous labour; work-in-progress, work undertaken but not completed, esp. (a) in commerce (see quot. 1978); (b) in the arts; † work-jail, a penal workhouse; work-lead, † (a) a vat (lead n.1 5 a) used for fermentation; (b) = G. werkblei, lead as it comes from the smelting furnace, containing impurities; † work-like a., inclined for work, industrious; work-mate, a fellow-labourer, one engaged in the same work with another or others; work measurement (see quot. 1979); work-minded a., eager to work hard; eager to go out to work; hence work-mindedness; workmonger, a controversial term for one who expects to be justified by works (see 1 b); work name, an alias used by someone engaged in secret intelligence work; work party, (a) a group of people who come together to carry out a piece of work of mutual or social benefit; (b) = working party s.v. working ppl. a. 2 c (d); work permit, a document representing official permission to take a job in a foreign country; workpiece, the object which is worked on with a machine or tool; work point, in the People's Republic of China, a unit used in calculating wages due, based on the quality and quantity of work done; work rate Assoc. Football, the extent to which a player contributes towards the fatiguing running and chasing in a game; work release U.S. = work furlough above; work-rule U.S., one of a set of regulations governing working procedures, conditions, etc., in a business or industry; work-sharing, short-time working by all employees within an industry intended to prevent redundancies when there is an excess of available man-power; work-sheet, (a) = work-book (a) above; also fig.; (b) U.S., a questionnaire; (c) a paper on which are recorded notes, calculations, etc., relating to work in progress; (d) a list of exercises, problems, etc., to be worked by a student (cf. work-book (b) above); work-shy a., shy of or disinclined for work, lazy; also absol. as n.; hence work-shyness; work-space, (a) Computers = working storage s.v. working vbl. n. 16 b; (b) space (for people) to work in; work-stone, a sloping cast-iron plate (? originally a stone) in the front of an ore-hearth, with a groove down which the melted metal flows; work study, (a) investigation of the methods of working in a business, etc., with the aim of increasing output and efficiency; (b) used attrib. with reference to schemes of combining work and study established in Communist China; work surface = work-top below; cf. working surface s.v. working vbl. n. 16 b; work-table, a table for supporting working materials and tools; esp. a small table with compartments and drawers, and sometimes with a well for needlework; work-team, (a) a team of draught-horses, oxen, etc.; (b) a team of people who work together, a work group, spec. in Communist China any of the working units making up a commune; work-top, a table or other flat surface suitable for working on, esp. in a kitchen; work-train, a train of wagons or trucks for conveying materials for construction or repair of a railway, etc.
1959L. M. Harrod Librarians' Gloss. (ed. 2) 249 Sheet work, printing one side of a sheet of paper from an ‘inner forme’ and the other from an ‘outer forme’. Also called ‘*work and back’. 1967E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset ii. 18 Sheet work is the term used to indicate that two formes are used to print the sheet, sometimes called ‘work and back’.
1931H. Jahn Hand Composition xvi. 251 The *work-and-tumble method..in a broad sense is also a work-and-turn method. Ibid. 254 In the work-and-tumble form the pages are so imposed that the sheet must be ‘tumbled’ or turned on the ‘long cross’. 1959L. M. Harrod Librarians' Gloss. (ed. 2) 296 Work and tumble, the method of printing the second side of a sheet of paper by turning it over in its narrow direction and feeding it into a printing machine to print the reverse side.
1888*Work and turn [see sheet-work s.v. sheet n. 12 b]. 1919V. Possnett Stonework 49/3 The sheet may be turned over after the first side has been printed, and the same edge of the sheet fed to the grippers for a second impression. This is termed ‘work-and-turn’. 1931H. Jahn Hand Composition xvi. 263 The Dexter standard jobbing folder..makes thirteen different folds adapted to work-and-turn and sheetwise forms. 1964Work-and-turn [see half-sheet (b) s.v. half- II. n].
193020th Cent. Encycl. Printing viii. 253 The *work and twist form is used for the printing of ruled work where the vertical and horizontal rules of a sheet are printed with one impression. 1968Gloss. Terms Offset Lithogr. Printing (B.S.I.) 25 Work and twist, printing one side of the sheet, then reversing the sidelay edges and front and back edges of the sheet, and printing the same side again with the same printing plate.
1775Twiss Trav. Port. & Sp. 36, I bought here several *work-bags made in the Brasils. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. v, Some half-dozen reticules and work-bags, ‘containing documents’, as she informed us.
1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 39 A small Basket..about the Size of the Womens *Work-baskets in England. 1897E. L. Voynich Gadfly i. vii, His mother's work-basket stood in a little cupboard.
1380Lay Folks Catech. (L.) 866 Thow schalt not coueyte þy neyȝborys wyf,..ne his oxe ne his *werk-best.
1782T. Jefferson Notes State Virginia (1787) 275 While we have land to labour then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a *work-bench, or twirling a distaff. 1864R. Kerr Gentl. Ho. 307 A Carpenter's Shop..will contain..the well-known work-bench of the trade, and perhaps a lathe.
1811Sutcliff Trav. N. Amer. 58 A tailor..whose *work-board being at a front window, he had an opportunity of noticing the passengers in the street. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iv. 325/1 The [watchmaker's] ‘workboard’ should be made of well-seasoned wood.
1941H. I. Chapelle Boatbuilding v. 339 Lines of a 45-foot *workboat. 1977Washington Post 4 Sept. a12/3 A fleet of workboats is continually dredging a passable channel.
1910A. Bennett Clayhanger iii. vi. 371 Edwin was familiar with every detail of the printer's *work-book. 1932W. D. Lewis et al. (title) Practical workbook in English. 1959Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 171 The Work Book is derived directly from the final storyboard, and is an analysis of each shot and sequence on a frame-by-frame basis. 1960G. E. Evans Horse in Furrow ix. 115 Work Books offer us a great deal of information about farming methods at this time [sc. early nineteenth century]. 1975Publishers Weekly 17 Nov. 98/1 With its workbook approach of charts, graphs, questionnaires and the like, this book will put some women off.
1976National Observer (U.S.) 22 May 16/1 At first wearing a suit, then gradually assuming *work boots and old clothes.
1605P. Erondelle French Garden sig. E7 verso, I haue not my siluer thimble, it is within my *worke-boxe. 1790F. Burney Diary Jan. (1940) 263 Everything..was spread about, as in any common day—work-boxes, netting-cases, etc. etc! 1811L. M. Hawkins Countess & Gertrude, Workbox. 1848Dickens Dombey viii, Berry brought out a little work-box,..and fell to working busily.
1933Nichols & Glaser Work Camps for America 13 The types of participants in *work camps vary according to the purpose of the camps and the organizations which control them. 1943F. L. Wright Autobiogr. (rev. ed.) IV. 309 Now by way of an architect's work-camp comes fresh adventures in the desert. 1964M. Banton Policeman in Community iii. 56 They stopped to talk with a youth they knew who was serving a sentence in a work camp. 1970Honey June 106/3 International Work Camps are held in most countries. Some camps offer paid work in forestry or farming. Others have specific projects that are usually related to social service. 1981‘W. Haggard’ Money Men i. 18 The Gestapo..had sent him back to Germany to a work camp where he'd been starved to death. 1984Listener 11 Oct. 26/1 An elaborate process of deception was instituted, by which the evacuation of Jews to the death-camps was disguised as a ‘resettlement’ into ‘work-camps’.
1959M. Levin Eva 4, I managed to get a blank German *work card. 1966J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants 239 The work cards, picture-cards, wall pictures and flashcards which accompany the course, are also recommended. 1975A. Watson Living in China iv. 99 The work card issued by the place of employment is an important means of social identification. 1980Daily Tel. 12 Feb. 6/8 Instead of text books the scheme uses a series of work-cards... These..are distributed to the pupils according to their ability.
1879Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 25 You must..have a *work-case with thread, cotton, needles, pins, thimble, scissors, knife, and pencil.
1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets i. iii. 57 Perhaps the most familiar form of *work-chant is the vendor's street cry. 1967A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in Eng. i. 54 The work⁓chants of Portland quarrymen.
1901‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Nov. 26/2 Tommy was..in his dreadful *work-clothes. 1978F. Weldon Praxis xx. 170 She changed out of her work clothes.
1892Westcott Gospel of Life 260 The *work-covenant of Sinai brings to light the duty and the weakness of men.
1611Florio, Scrignetto, a little shrine, chest, coffin, or deske... Also a womans *worke⁓deske.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair viii, She took from her *work-drawer an enormous..piece of knitting.
1880E. C. Rollins New Eng. Bygones (1883) 42 These farmers..were almost always *work-driven and weary.
1959Past & Present xv. 44 Weber also asserted that Calvinistic Protestantism was an indispensable precondition of the development of a capitalistic *work ethic. 1973P. A. Whitney Snowfire vi. 112 The work ethic, you mean?..my little Puritan. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 468/1 They are showing the way which we should follow—if only we were not ‘locked on to’ some puritanical work ethic.
1975Whitaker's Almanack 1976 1041/2 In recent years there has been a marked growth in the provision of ‘*work-experience’ schemes which involve the participation of pupils in the work of industrial, commercial and other firms. 1983Fortune 16 May 112/3 CETA's primary approach, providing ‘work experience’ in temporary public service jobs, does no good at all, presumably because the jobs don't lead anywhere. Work experience has big payoffs, however, when it comes in the form of on-the-job training for a permanent position in the private sector.
1526Tindale Rom. xvi. 21 Thimotheus my *worke felow. 1564Brief Exam. D ij b, We nede many workefelowes. a1890J. H. Newman Meditations (1893) ii. 289 We thus pray..for our associates and work-fellows. 1903C. Coleridge Charlotte M. Yonge x. 276 She was the most delightful comrade, workfellow, or playfellow.
1888Times (weekly ed.) 9 Nov. 9/3 A training-farm or ‘*workfield’ managed by the poor-law authorities. 1918Abp. Davidson in Times 30 Dec. 6/3 Their activities are in His larger workfield now.
1950I. A. Herrman Office Methods, Systems, & Procedures vii. 131 *Work flow diagrams are effective in solving various kinds of problems. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 19 June 2/4 Byrd is a master of legislative detail with a reputation as a fair-minded manager who accelerates the work flow.
1961Times 30 May 13/7 Books come off no assembly line. The raw material is provided by a notoriously undisciplined *work-force. 1982Daily Tel. 18 Nov. 2/1 They were non-unionised because ‘that is the wish of the majority of the work force’.
1957Statutes of California 1956 & 1957 II. mdlxxx. 2933 If the court so directs that the prisoner be permitted to continue in his regular employment, the *work furlough administrator shall arrange for a continuation of such employment so far as possible without interruption. Ibid. 2934 This section shall be known..as the ‘Work Furlough Rehabilitation Law.’ 1970Criminology May 63 Work furlough has been used..for felons as well as misdemeanants. 1980New Age (U.S.) Oct. 15/2 Both men received suspended jail sentences and three years probation; each will serve about a month in a work-furlough program or community service and must undergo psychiatric counselling.
1948Common Ground Summer 41/2 Their pianos sound the *work-gang chorus. 1981W. Ebersohn Divide Night xii. 157 A work gang..cleaning up the litter along the road.
1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton iv, The blooming young *work-girl. 1886Besant Childr. Gibeon i. vi, We're work-girls, and we've got to earn our living.
1913D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers x. 256 She began to spare her hands. They, too, were *work-gnarled now. 1957J. Kerouac On Road vi. 216 A wiry..man..with work-gnarled hands.
1954J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol. of Industry iv. 114 A factory or a society is not ordinarily a mass of isolated individuals..; it is an integrated pattern of primary *work-groups. 1960Ann. Reg. 1959 381 All of them [sc. sects] laid emphasis on activity: dancing, propagation of the faith, and free labour with work-groups building and cleaning temples. 1972M. Argyle Social Psychol. of Work ix. 233 Many studies have shown that job satisfaction is affected by relationships in the work group.
1834W. Sewall Diary (1930) 154 He was an excellent *work hand. 1866Carlyle E. Irving in Remin. (1881) I. 129 Miller's assistant and work-hand for many years was John Bell, a joiner. 1893T. N. Page Ole Virginia 173 He was a good work-hand, and a first-class boatman. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August i. 14 The gray woman not plump and not thin, manhard, *workhard, in a serviceable gray garment.
1924Engineer 7 Mar. 249/1 Metal rolled cold or drawn through dies may be *work-hardened to an extent rendering it quite unsuitable for further working. Ibid. 251/2 It may be that its [sc. ‘browning’'s] real function is to reduce the tendency of the steel to work-harden. 1961New Scientist 16 Mar. 672/1 The ability of the material to work-harden by deformation more than compensates for the thermal weakening of the interatomic bonds. 1972Mineral. Mag. XXIII. 265/2 Naturally deformed galena has been ‘work-hardened’ by tectonic movement. 1984E. P. DeGarmo et al. Materials & Processes in Manuf. (ed. 6) ii. 41 When most materials are plastically deformed, they work-harden; that is, they become harder and the yield-point stress is raised.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede iv, She stands knitting..with her *work-hardened hands. 1924Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CX. 431 The abnormally low value of the limit of proportionality..is found in both quench-hardened and work-hardened steels. 1973J. G. Tweeddale Materials Technol. II. iv. 102 Cold drawing can impart a good surface finish and accurate size to a product and leaves the material in a work-hardened condition which is often desirable.
1924Engineer 7 Mar. 248/2 (heading) *Work-hardening of metals and the Herbert tester. 1973J. G. Tweeddale Materials Technol. II. iv. 87 The work-hardening can be used to give enhanced strength.
1930Engineering 25 Apr. 538/3 A pair of flat ways for the *work-head, tailstock and journal supports. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 121/1 (Advt.), Other workheads, quickly interchangeable without tools, include—12 and 17in. hedge-cutters, pruning saw,..etc. 1964S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes vii. 194 The workhead is..a self-contained unit carried at the opposite end of the table to the tailstock.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2120/2 The cylinder sewing-machine has a cylindrical *work-holder for sewing seams on sleeves, trousers,..and other tubular work.
1528Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 42 b, The sophistres, *werke⁓holy, & iustifiars,..which so magnifie their dedes.
1543Richmond Wills (Surtees) 41 Inventarye..in y⊇ stable..Item iiijor *warke horses. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 17 A pair of work-horses may be accommodated in a space of sixteen feet by eight. 1949Sun (Baltimore) 3 Oct. 2/6 This caliber howitzer has gained the reputation of being the ‘work horse’ of the Army. 1966Electronics 3 Oct. 54 The satellites will be launched on improved versions of the workhorse Delta vehicle. 1973Listener 20 Dec. 841/2 Gerald Ford..has been known..as the most dependable of Republican work-horses. 1981H. Engel Ransom Game (1982) xxii. 133 The big barn doors. The entrance is on the lower floor, where the cows and work horses used to be. 1982Habitat Catal. 1982/83 56/2 A real workhorse of a table, with maple block top. 1985A. Blond Book Book iii. 42 An admirable workhorse of a publisher.
1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton vii, To try and get a little sleep before *work-hour. Ibid., Unfettered by work-hours.
1930Times 25 Mar. 24/5 ‘*Work in progress, less instalments thereon,’ is {pstlg}141,069, against {pstlg}47,351 in the previous year. 1952R. Giroux Let. 10 Mar. in Breit & Lowry Sel. Lett. M. Lowry (1967) 450 It is clear that the place of the finished book will be important in your long work-in-progress. 1976P. Israel French Kiss (1977) ii. 24 The work-in-progress on one of the easels. 1978J. Kellock Elements of Accounting x. 176 Work-in-progress, is the value of incomplete work in the factory and is usually computed on the following basis: the cost of materials and production labour plus the proportion of indirect expenses chargeable to the work up to its present stage of manufacture.
1618Bolton Florus (1636) 233 Breaking up the *worke-jayles, or bridle⁓wels [L. refractis ergastulis] by right of Warre. 1834Poulett Scrope in Hansard's Parl. Debates Ser. iii. XXIII. 1326 The whole country must be studded with district workhouses, or rather work-gaols.
1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl vi. 98 Yet it was always packed with colliers and *work-lasses.
1471–2Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 156 Pro operacione cca vxx viij petr. plumbi in iiij *warkledes, brewledes, et j steplede. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Work-lead. See Base bullion.
1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vii. 112 The pond..is tenanted by tame decoy ducks, pinioned, whose *work-life is to lure the wild birds down. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 1 Jan. 1/2 Men..committed to serious and demanding work lives.
1947J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 13 Get the *work-light on the long cord connected. 1977Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. i. 53 (Advt.), Self-cleaning oven..Fluorescent worklight.
a1642Bedell Erasmus in Fuller Abel Rediv. (1651) 57 Seaven Cities, no contemptible portion of witty and *work-like Greece.
1946*Work-load [see load n. 4 c]. 1962Listener 4 Jan. 4/1 The application of time study to speed and tighten up the work load. 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 195, I pushed and pulled thirty times at the bungee cord which permitted me to exercise with a known workload. 1978G. A. Sheehan Running & Being xv. 210, I shift to shorter steps..to maintain the same workload. 1985Times 18 Jan. 5/1 He is one of more than 1,000 teachers whose workload is being analysed by the National Union of Teachers in a survey to be published next week.
1627Drayton Agincourt lxxviii, A *Work-mayd in her Summers weed, With Sheafe and Sickle.
1587Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) 144 One *worke horse or maire.
1851H. Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 95 The man accordingly got a boat, and was soon afloat among his old *workmates.
1948(title) Manual of procedures: *work measurement in public works offices (U.S. Bureau of Yards & Docks). 1969J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 271 The procedure used in Work Measurement to determine the amount of labour required to do a job is to time how long it takes the average man to perform each element of the job. 1979Gloss. Terms Work Study (B.S.I.) 2 Work measurement, the application of techniques designed to establish the time for a qualified worker to carry out a task at a defined rate of working.
1954Encounter Sept. 33/1 The Army requires..*work-minded people who try to do a good job of whatever they're told to do. 1968Economist 11 May 46/1 The more ‘work⁓minded’ a mum in her later years, the less available she is to look after her daughter's kids.
1960Encounter Nov. 27/1 William H. Whyte, Jr.,..points out that some large corporations, worried about the decline in ‘*work-mindedness’, are seeking to substitute an ideology of corporate loyalty.
1549Allen Jude's Par. Rev. xii. 3–6 The truth of the christen faith..beyng persecuted..of Emperours and Kynges, of *workemongers. 1581Marbeck Bk. Notes 882 The Harlots and Publicans repenting truly, and..submitting themselues to the mercie of God, are more acceptable vnto God, then y⊇ proud workmongers, that trust in their owne righteousnesse. 1882Mrs. Booth Addr. Crit. Salvation Army 7 One class of critics stigmatise us as being..work-mongers.
1576Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) I. 411, ij *woryke nagges.
1977‘J. le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy iii. 54 Karla..was the *workname of the Soviet case officer who had recruited Bill Haydon..and had the running of him.
1959Encounter Feb. 14/2 At the local level, there must always be potential disputes between workers and management over redundancy, *work-norms, wage-differentials..and so on. 1980Times 24 May 14/7 You can poke fun at life under Communism.. how to fiddle your work-norms.
1567Richmond Wills (Surtees) 210, xxj *wark oxen. 1897O. Wister in Harper's Mag. Mar. 534/2 He looked as wise as a work-ox.
1927Amer. Speech II. 366/2 The man had on his *work pants this morning. 1978H. C. Rae Sullivan i. ii. 19 Denim workpants slung low on his thick hips.
1957R. Frankenberg Village on Border 20 They [sc. women] also work together in sewing groups and *work⁓parties preparing material for sales-of-work. 1957V. W. Turner Schism & Continuity in an African Society i. 22 The cutting and clearing of bush..may involve a collective work-party..of kin and neighbours. 1981I. Boland tr. Ginzburg's Within Whirlwind i. iii. 22 Many considered the shock of being drafted to a work party every bit as bad as being arrested.
1815Scott Guy M. xxix, Miss Bertram's *work-patterns.
1894A. S. Robertson Provost o' Glendookie 91 The Glendookian year contained two *work-pauses.
1965Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 June 13/3 The Union des Artistes will give endless *work permits, he points out, but is most cautious about applications for membership. 1971Times 25 Feb. 4/1 A Commonwealth citizen wishing to work here in future will need a work permit issued for a specific job in a specific place for a fixed initial period. 1983Daily Tel. 12 May 4/8 Work permit clamp. The Singapore Government has tightened up on employment permits for foreigners.
1807Monthly Mag. 1 Feb. 67/1 The return of the carriage without any assistance from the *work⁓person. 1980S. Brett Dead Side of Mike ii. 17 Even the most brilliant workperson in the world needs some sort of tools.
1934Webster, *Workpiece. 1949Tool Engineers Handbk. (Amer. Soc. Tool Engineers) xcviii. 1544 Improper workpiece locating can readily result in excessive troubles and spoilage. 1952Economist 6 Dec. 721 The guiding wheel is charged negatively and the work⁓piece positively. 1978Sci. Amer. Nov. 110/2 The surface of the workpiece undergoes much more heating in abrasive machining than in conventional machining.
a1828T. Bewick in Zoologist (1862) Ser. i. XX. 8150 He had it sent for to my *work⁓place. 1875Act 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55 §91 Any factory, work⁓shop, or workplace..not kept in a cleanly state.
1957J. Kerouac On Road ii. ix. 170 A paper for the want ads and *workplans. 1976Columbus (Montana) News 10 June 1/1 A district program and a work plan was written outlining the conditions and situations relating to soil and water conservation within the district.
[1959C. K. Yang Chinese Village in Early Communist Tradition xvii. 246 For most co-operatives the distribution of income was based neither on equal sharing nor on individual needs but on the quantity and quality of labor performed under the system of labor units or points.] 1964Current Scene 15 Apr. 2/2 The use of *work points rather than absolute money terms to express wages..preserves Peking's control over the allocation of the harvest. 1969[see Tachai]. 1979China Now Jan.–Feb. 14/1 She cultivates vegetables..and earns nine workpoints a day.
1969*Work-rate [see through ball s.v. through- 2]. 1976South Notts. Echo 16 Dec. 7/5 In midfield J. Uren read the game well and with a higher work rate could be destined for higher things.
1957Session Laws & Resolutions State of N. Carolina 489 The governing body of the State Prison System is authorized and directed to establish a *work release plan for those serving sentences for misdemeanors. 1981C. Bartollas Introd. Corrections viii. 168 Objectives of work release.
1828Scott F.M. Perth vii, The *work-room of Simon Glover was filled to crowding by personages of no little consequence. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xiii, Thoughts..of the morrow..to be spent in that close monotonous work-room.
1963Economist 16 Mar. 997/2 A committee made a two-year study of the railway dispute and recommended far-reaching changes in the *work-rules on the trains [in the U.S.], to try to eliminate the ‘feather-bedding’ which keeps unnecessary men on the job. 1979Wall Street Jrnl. 20 Dec. 18/5 Mr. Church will be under considerable pressure to implement the [U.S. mineworkers'] convention's..work-rule demands.
1892Daily News 18 May 6/1 There are no openings for *work⁓seekers.
1593Lanc. Wills (1884) 155, I gyve..unto everye one of my *worke servants over and besids theire waigs x s. apeece.
1934Planning II. xxxiv. 12 Another group of proposals look to *work-sharing as a method of adjusting labour to labour requirements. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 56 They were entirely concerned about the problem of redundancy and in particular the impression created by Gunter's public statements that in principle the Government is opposed to work-sharing in the motor⁓car industry.
1925S. Lewis Arrowsmith xxxix. 427 ‘I'll find out from my wife what dates we have already and telephone you tomorrow evening’. ‘So you let the Old Woman keep the *work-sheet for you, huh?’ 1930Dialect Notes VI. 73 Professor Jud made a number of specific suggestions regarding mechanical features of the work⁓sheets. 1958Listener 31 July 155/1 Sorted away in the stacks are some 5,000 sets of poets' worksheets, the notes, drafts, revisions. 1966J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants 238 A new type of course, designed for eight-year-old foreign learners, consisting of gramophone records, teacher's notes, and pupils' ‘working scripts’ which are work-sheets and meant to be expendable. 1967R. Bregzis in Cox & Grose Organization & Handling Bibl. Rec. by Computer v. 118 NUC catalogues and other files or catalogues are checked as necessary, and all information [is] recorded on a catalogue worksheet. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) x. 145 It is even less likely to happen where children work individually through assignment cards or work sheets. 1976P. Alexander Death of Thin-Skinned Animal xx. 206 Look, if you haven't done any maintenance there, boyo, how come I've got a work⁓sheet for renewing thirty foot of ogee guttering and repointing the bloody gable end? 1981Amer. Speech 1977 LII. 167 He employed a variable questionnaire based upon the New England short worksheets.
1923Dialect Notes V. 235 A *work shirt made of crossbarred cotton cloth. 1980Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 15/8 (Advt.), Fisherman's smock. Original workshirt of local fishermen.
1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy (1968) vi. 96 Royal Little has built the successful Textron Corp. composed of consumer electronics, textiles, helicopters, *work shoes, and satellite motors. 1980D. E. Westlake Castle in Air vi. 63 Manuel was dressed in rough corduroy trousers,..heavy workshoes, and a coarse cotton shirt.
1904H. Preston-Thomas Rep. Vagrancy Switz. 4 If the council..decide that (to use the expressive term officially employed) he is *work-shy (Arbeits-scheu). 1928Daily Express 2 Apr. 7/4 To make the lot of the work-shy as favourable as that of the worker. 1983Times 12 Oct. 14/5 The Gravediggers' Union, understandably affronted by having their members portrayed as drunken workshies.
1904H. Preston-Thomas Rep. Vagrancy Switz. 9 The offence of most of them has been begging or ‘*work⁓shyness.’
1975BP Shield Internat. May 5/4 Up to three teams of divers may be maintained under these conditions to permit a 24-hour per day diving operation at the *work⁓site. 1980Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 28 (Advt.), He must be an engineer, between 30 and 50, perfectly fluent in French and English, with overseas experience in work-site construction.
1932W. Faulkner Light in August ii. 28 The men in faded and *work-soiled overalls.
1911Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore XXIV. 379 Like the other songs, the *work-songs give a keen insight into the negro's real self. 1933E. Caldwell God's Little Acre xiv. 205 The sound of the picks..rose and fell in their ears to the rhythm of Uncle Felix's work-song. 1977Listener 25 Aug. 244/3 The persistent play with three for four notes suggests incantation or work-songs.
1959New Scientist 25 June 1375/2 Such a code would mean building an automatic translating system into existing designs of computers, thereby reducing their ‘*work-space’. 1979Kraft & Toy Mini/Microcomputer Hardware Design viii. 413 Its general register set is placed in main storage and realized as a 16-word area of memory that is considered a workspace. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 1c/1 Several high-rise government office buildings with a combined work space of perhaps 100,000 to 150,000 square feet. 1985Which Computer? Apr. 53/2 Even on a fully configured IBM PC..you can find yourself running out of workspace.
1892Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Jan. 3/2 His rough and *work-stained hearers. 1901Scotsman 8 Oct. 5/1 There are some of us who have learned to love that work-stained river.
1849C. Brontë Shirley xxix, He placed another chair opposite that near the *work-stand.
1911Blackw. Mag. Sept. 359/2 Setting him up with a *work-steer and a milk cow.
1877Rep. Indian Affairs 22 Unprecedented storms and heavy roads had..broken down our light Indian *work-stock. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. 603 The people cared first for their work stock,..horses and mules were housed in a place of safety. 1911Blackw. Mag. Sept. 360/2 Wheat..for his work-stock feed.
1667in Pettus Fodinæ Reg. (1670) 35 Five Hearths with Backs, Cheeks, *Workstones, Iron Plates, and other necessaries. 1884C. G. W. Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 336/2 Extending forwards from the front of the hearth..is an iron plate called the ‘fore-stone’ or ‘work-stone’.
c1951(title) The implications of *work study (Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.). 1962E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xxx. 227 Part-time and work⁓study middle schools are discussed in the next chapter. 1965J. Ch'ên Mao & Chinese Revolution (1967) i. iii. 72 In August 1920 Mao and others founded a small Russian affairs study group as well as sponsoring a Work-study Scheme for students to go to Russia. Ibid. v. 95 Work-study students who had just returned from France or Russia. 1978Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 6/7 (Advt.), Applicants would be expected to have at least two years' practical experience in the Work Study and O & M field.
1971House & Garden Dec. 76/2 Spotlights illuminating *work surfaces and dining-area. 1979J. Barnett Backfire is Hostile! xii. 117 They were inside a kitchen, work surfaces, refrigerator, an electric cooker gleamed.
1790F. Burney Diary Jan. (1905) IV. 348 Dr. Fisher says he hopes it was not a card-table, and rather believes it was only a Pembroke *work-table. 1800S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. (ed. 2) III. 139 On one side stood an ornamental work-table. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay i, A small basket work-table, overflowing with bright-colored wools and silk.
1885Ann. Rep. U.S. Office Indian Affairs 41 There is a growing desire among these Indians to obtain and care for stock and work cattle... The desire to obtain *work-teams has been great. 1933L. I. Wilder Farmer Boy xi. 75 He was old enough to..drive the old, gentle work-team... They were wise, sober mares. 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organization ii. 47 The clash between the values of..work-team and church which so often occurs in a highly differentiated larger community. 1965New Statesman 3 Sept. 321/1 The giant communes were divided into smaller units. The basic unit is a work-team, generally about the size of an average village. 1972M. Argyle Social Psychol. of Work x. 252 The construction of work-teams, introducing democratic supervision, participation in management, and arousal of intrinsic motivation all increase cooperation. 1978China Now Mar./Apr. 18/2 Each family belongs to a work team,..a group of teams makes up a brigade, and..the brigades together make up the commune as a whole.
1931W. Faulkner Sanctuary xvi. 146 Along the fence a row of heads hatted and bare above *work-thickened shoulders. 1970L. Jeffers My Blackness is the Beauty of this Land 8 Work-thickened hand thoughtful and gentle on grandson's head.
1812Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) I. 168 The playthings and the *workthings, that this unlucky search discovered.
1882Besant All Sorts xx. (1898) 143 During *work-time he planned amusements for Miss Kennedy and her girls. 1889Browning Asolando, Epilogue iv, At noonday in the bustle of man's work-time.
1588Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) 151 Bellowes and other *work tooles. 1955E. Pound Classic Anthol. i. 78 We have blunted our axes, We lack work-tools.
1953Archit. Rev. CXIV. 127/1 Though not as highly resistant to abrasion as Formica it is considerably cheaper, and suitable for anything but *worktops where there is much cutting and sliding. 1967Observer 21 May 30/5 A work-top bridging two drawer units makes a perfectly good dressing-table. 1978Lancashire Life Oct. 125/1 (Advt.), Now in our upstairs showroom shown in three displays of door and worktop colour—the kitchen of rounded edges—doors and worktops in a host of colours and textures. 1984Which? Oct. 458/3 If you are going to use tiles for a worktop, check that they have good scratch resistance.
1884Lisbon (Dakota) Star Oct. 10 The *work-train is again engaged in hauling gravel on the road.
1877Tennyson Harold i. i. 54 Look! am I not *Work-wan, flesh-fallen?
1967St. Andrews Citizen 25 Feb. 5/4 Men's *workwear. Full range mens overalls..trousers, jackets, coats and boilersuits. 1981Daily Tel. 22 Sept. 9 (Advt.), The workwear rental company.
1853C. Brontë Villette I. v. 82 A brief holiday, permitted for once to *work-weary faculties. 1865Mrs. L. L. Clarke Common Seaweeds iv. 75 The man of business takes a ramble on the sea shore, work-weary.
1935Economist 26 Oct. 802/1 Hourly wage rates are a little higher;..the *work-week is a little longer. 1980News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 28 Oct. 21/3 Layoffs in a local furniture plant and shortened workweeks at county textile mills.
1865C. Stanford Symb. Christ vi. (1878) 170 When for a few moments that *work-worn man takes up his Bible.
1614T. Gentleman England's Way 31 Houses, and *worke-yards erected for Coopers, and Rope-makers. 1864R. Kerr Gentl. Ho. 308 An enclosed Work-yard is..required... The Workshops ought to face it.
35. attrib. and Comb. with works (sense 18), as works bus, works canteen, works club, works kitchen, works manager, works outing; works committee, council, a committee of workers or their representatives, formed for joint discussions with employers.
1969R. Blythe Akenfield iv. 80 Works-bus waiting to carry him from door to site. 1980A. Townsin Blue Triangle iii. 48/1 A second works bus.
1963A. Howard in Sissons & French Age of Austerity i. 17 The Naafi and the works-canteen. 1978J. B. Hilton Some run Crooked iii. 19 He ate his midday meal in a works canteen.
1908Mod. Business Aug. 69/1 Any surplus is devoted to some charity or to some of the works clubs. 1917Interim Rep. on Joint Standing Industr. Councils 4 in Parl. Papers 1917–18 (Cd. 8606) XVIII. 415 We are of opinion that..Works Committees, representative of the management and of the workers employed, should be instituted..to act in close co-operation with the district and national machinery. 1966T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. iii. 63 In a small firm, Joint Consultation might take place in a Works Committee.
1925Glasgow Herald 31 July 5 The most important is the Works Council Law of 1920, which requires a works council to be set up in each establishment employing 20 persons or more. 1977Times 22 Sept. 2/8 The need to develop industrial democracy on the shop floor through works councils.
1908Mod. Business Aug. 69/1 Another valuable outlet for its energies is the management of a Works Kitchen. 1918A. Bennett Pretty Lady xxvii. 177, I used to take their part against the works-manager. 1976Derbyshire Times (Peak ed.) 3 Sept. 3/7 Mr..Marshall (26), works manager,..escaped unhurt.
1943J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday viii. 47 His bus ride to the factory..took on the air of a works outing. 1974Listener 23 May 664/2 A works outing to Blackpool.
Add:[IV.] [34.] [d.] work shadowing, training or work experience, or a research technique, which consists of ‘shadowing’ a person at work (see *shadow v. 12 d); hence work-shadow, (a) one who ‘shadows’ another; (b) (chiefly in attrib. use) = *work-shadowing; also as v. intr. and trans.
1984Ilea Contact 20 Jan. 4/2 ‘Work Shadowing’ was our response... My pupils had..very limited perceptions of work. 1985Times 25 Nov. 11/1 A pilot ‘*work shadowing’ scheme started in the summer. 1986Daily Tel. 16 May 5/3 (heading), Work shadow learns the job. 1986Ibid. 29 Sept. 24/6 If you are offered the chance to work shadow you will almost certainly find it a worthwhile experience. 1987Railnews (Brit. Rail) Oct. 7/3 BR encourages managers to involve themselves in workshadowing..as part of their contribution to the community. 1989Daily Tel. 6 June 17/7 Llewellyn is an enthusiastic supporter of the workshadow schemes in which undergraduates spend two to five days watching a top executive at work. 1990New Scientist 5 May 71/3 Another, more personal, way to encourage possible recruits: I have been ‘work-shadowed’ by one of the girls. 1995Independent 23 Mar. 19/7 Training courses featured highly,..so did more unusual forms of development such as job moves, secondments, project work, task forces, work shadowing, [etc.].
▸ work–life adj. (also work/life) of, relating to, or designating work and personal life, or the relationship between the two; esp. in work–life balance.
1977D. B. Miller Personal Vitality 5 There is no one right *work/life balance. 1978L. Aaker Jrnl. 2 Oct. in Woman's Odyssey (1994) 92 For men, work is the fundamental identification point... There must be a middle ground of understanding the work/life relationship. 1990Wall St. Jrnl. (Electronic ed.) 21 Sept. International Business Machines Corp. was honored for its employee ‘work/life’ programs. The..programs..include assisting employees with child care. 2003Safety & Health Practitioner Nov. 72/2 MTM..is particularly focused on a good work-life balance for its staff and this has had a significant reduction in its employees' stress levels.
▸ workplace nursery n. a crèche provided by a place of work for the care of employees' children.
1977T.U.C. Congr. Rep. (109) 7 Sept. 452/2 A number of surveys have identified a real and pressing need for the establishment of *workplace nursery facilities. 1985Labour Res. Dec. 309/2 A single parent with a son in a workplace nursery. 2000Sunday Times 23 July (Money section) 5/4 Most companies have now adopted family-friendly policies, including workplace nurseries, and allow job-sharing and flexible working hours.
▪ II. work, v.|wɜːk|
Pa. tense and pple. worked |wɜːkt|, arch. and techn. wrought |rɔːt|. Forms: see below.
[(1) OE. wyrcan, pa. tense worhte, pa. pple. ᵹeworht, = OS. workian, OHG. wurchen, worhta, wurhta, giworht, gewurchet (MHG. wurken, würken, worhte, geworht, gewürket), ON. yrkja, orta, ortr, Goth. waurkjan, waurhta, -waurhts:—OTeut. *wurkjan, *wurχt-; (2) OE. (Mercian) wircan, = OFris. werkia, wirza, wrochte, wrocht, OS. wirkian, war(a)hta, war(a)ht, OHG. wirchen, warahta (MHG. wirken, warhte, G. wirken; wirkte, gewirkt), ON. verkja, virkja to feel pain:—OTeut. *werkjan, *warχt- (*wurχt-). A third OE. type represented by late wercan, weorc(e)an seems to point to early influence of the n. we(o)rc (see work n.) upon the vowel of the v.
Other Teut. forms are OFris. werka, OS. -werkon, (-werkot), (M)Du., M(LG.) werken, (wrochte, etc.), OHG. werchôn (MHG. werchen, werken), ON. verka (-að) in certain technical uses, orka to manage, effect, contrive (Sw. verka to do, perform, virka to crochet, Da. virke to operate, act, weave, etc.).
The Indo-Eur. base worg-, werg-, wrg- is represented outside Germanic by Zend vərəzyeiti he works, Gr. ἔρδω (:—*wergjō), ῥέζω (:—*wrgjō) I do, perf. ἔοργα, ὄργανον organ, ὄργιον orgy, OIr. fairged they made, do-fairci prepares, and the forms s.v. wark n. and v., and work n.
The normal representative of OE. wyrcan would be *worch (for the vocalism cf. worm, worse, wort); the substitution of k for ch, producing the modern standard form |wɜːk| instead of |wɜːtʃ|, is shown in north-midland areas c 1200, and is due mainly to work n., though Scandinavian influence (see various forms above) is possible.
The new pa. tense and pple. worked, formed directly on the inf. stem, became established in the 15th century; it is now the normal form except in archaic usage (in which the older form wrought may appear in any sense), and in senses which denote fashioning, shaping, or decorating with the hand or an implement: see wrought.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
1. inf. and pres. stem. (α) 1 wyrc(e)an, (wyricean), 2–3 wurchen, (3 wrchen, wuerche, wourche), 3–6 wurche, 5–6 wurch. (β) 1 wirc(e)an, 3–5 wirche(n, 4–6 wyrche, 5 wyrch, wirch, (whirche), 9 dial. wirtch. (γ) 1 wefeorcean, wercan, (2 imp. wrec), 2–4 werchen, (3 werechen), 3–5 werche. (δ) 3–6 worch(e, (4 worsche, 6 arch. woorchen).
αc950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. iii. 2 Hreonisse doas vel wyrcas. Ibid. xxi. 28 Wuirc in winᵹeard minne. 971Blickl. Hom. 75 Þæt we sceolan god weorc wyricean. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 264 Hu mon læcedomas wiþ þon wyrcean scyle. c1175Lamb. Hom. 109 On monie wisen mon mei wurchen elmessan. c1200wuerche [see B. 3 d]. c1205Lay. 1547 Scaðe werc wrchen. a1250Owl & Night. 408 (Jesus MS.) He wile of bore wurche [Cott. wrchen] bareh. c1450Godstow Reg. 24 With feyth truly for to wurch. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 1382 In Gods seruyce they honourablye wurche.
βc825Vesp. Psalter xiv. 2 Se..wirceð rehtwisnisse. a1250Owl & Night. 722 (Cott. MS.) Clerkes ginneþ songes wirche. 13..Northern Passion 1354 Alle the bettyr þey myghte wyrche. c1400Rom. Rose 6659–65 He bad wirken whanne that neede is... Seynt Poule that loued al hooly chirche He bade thappostles forto wirche And wynnen her lyflode..And seide wirketh with youre honden. c1420Chron. Vilod. 344 Elburwe þat religyose house let after whirche. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 45 Þe place wher arsenek is putte in, if it wirch perfitely, shal bycome blo & bolned. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 222 Forto..wirche holi deedis. 15..Merch. & Son 200 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 146 He made hym evyn with every man, as far as he cowde wyrche. 1847Halliwell, Wirtch, to ache. North.
γ971Blickl. Hom. 67 Þæt þu scealt..Godes willan wercan. c1000Rule of Chrodegang xvii, Þonne hi ne þurfon ᵹemæne worc weorcean, wirce ælc sum þing þæs þe his aᵹen neod sy. a1175Cott. Hom. 225 Wrec þe me an arc. c1200wercheð [see B. 21]. c1275Lay. 12167 Ich wolle werechen after þine willen. c1460werche [see B. 1 c].
δc1275XI Pains of Hell 310 in O.E. Misc. 220 Wo-so-euer wil halou þis sununday Wele and worch it ful. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 84 Wymmen with childe þat worchen ne mowen. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 123 Þei wolen not..worsche aftir good conscience. c1400R. Glouc. Chron. (Rolls) App. xx. 94 Hi þoute wourche wo. c1450Godstow Reg. 8 Crist grawnt us grace truly to worch. 1566Drant Horace, Sat. viii. 6 To woorchen all our will. 1865Waugh Lancs. Songs 24 When a mon's honestly willin' To wortch.
(ε) 3 (Orm.) wirrkenn, 4 wirc, wirck(e, wirkke, wyrkke, wyrc, (wrick, wrik, wryk, Sc. vyrk), 4–6 wirke, wyrk(e, Sc. virk, 4–6, 8 Sc. wirk, 5 wirken, 5–6 wyrcke. (ζ) 3–6 werke, 4 werc, werkke, werken, 5–6 werk, (6 weorke). (η) 4–7 worke, 6 woorke, wurk, Sc. vurk, 7 worck, 6– work. (θ) 5-6 warke, 9 dial. wark.
εc1200Ormin 10118 To wirrkenn allmess werrkess. a1300Cursor M. 1229 To wrik þare wik wil. Ibid. 2200 To wyrk wondres. Ibid. 25251 Þi will to wirc. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5001 How þey schuld wyrke. c1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 4 Þo bokes of holy kyrc, þat holy men..con wyrc. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xix. (Christopher) 79 To wryk in ws his wekit pouste. 1375Barbour Bruce v. 488 He thoucht to virk with slicht. a1400Morte Arth. 1468 Fulle graythelye he wyrkkes. c1400wirken [see 1 β]. 1530Palsgr. 783/1, I wyrke... Declared in ‘I worke’. 1549Compl. Scot. i. 21 The iugement of gode (quhilk virkis al thyng). 1550Crowley Last Trumpet 482 For to wyrcke. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. (S.T.S.) II. 201 Feireng..that Angus suld wirk thame sum..iniure.
ζc1220werkeð [see B. 10]. a1300Cursor M. 14704 Þe werckes þat i werc. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. T. 1477 As for to werken any thyng in contrarie. c1450Holland Howlat 785 He couth werk wounderis. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 136 b, It can werke no effect. 1553Respublica 86 Avaryce maie weorke factes.
η1340Ayenb. 206 Alneway workinde. 14..Sir Beues 1798 (Pynson) Lat god worke what his wol is. 1546St. Papers Hen. VIII XI. 225, I will do what I can..then must Godd worcke. 1551Crowley Pleas. & Payne Ded. 108 The Lorde work in the hertis of the rych. 1570G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 9 Matter..for them to wurk uppon. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 368 Destroy the block, That vurkis thir Turkis aganis the. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 634/1 Divine powers which should woorke vengeaunce on perjurours. 1625in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1909) III. 52 Discharging our broadsides as fast as wee coulde laied them and worck them. 1645in N. & Q. 12th Ser. IX. 223/2 Brick to worke up the wall.
θ1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye i. xiii. 35 The handes warke. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 799 Whereat they barke, And mar all they warke. 1880Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve II. 143 If 'tis to be done, he'll wark the oracle for me.
2. pa. tense. (α) 1–3 worhte (1 worohte, uorhte); 1–4 wrohte, (3 wrocte, Orm. wrohhte), 3–4 wrouht(e, 3–5 wroȝt(e, 3–6 wrouȝt(e, wrout(e, wroght, 4 wroghte, wroht, wrowht, (wroth), 4–5 wroughte, Sc. wroucht, 4–6 Sc. wrocht, (vrocht), 5 wrowȝte, wrowt, (wrouth), 6 wrowght, 5– wrought. (β) 1–2 warhte; 3 wrahte, wrauhte, 3–4 wraȝte, 4 wraht, 5 Sc. wraucht, 6 wraught.
αc950Lindisf. Gosp. John ix. 6 Uorhte lam of ðæm spadle. 971Blickl. Hom. 19 Hælend..þæt wundor worhte. 1056–66Inscr. on Dial, Kirkdale Ch., Yks., Haward me wrohte. c1200Ormin 2256 Godd..Þatt alle shaffte wrohhte. c1205Lay. 12024 He harm worhte. a1225Ancr. R. 258 Þe þet wrouhte þe eorðe. c1250Gen. & Ex. 156 His miȝt..ðe wroutis [= wrought them] on ðe ferðe day! Ibid. 230 It ne wrocte him neuere a del. a1300in Anecd. Lit. (1844) 91 Thenk, mon, werof Crist the wroute. a1300Cursor M. 362 First þan wroght he angel kind. 13..Northern Passion 1367 (MS. Camb. Gg.) Þei wrothin hit wit maistrie. c1350Will. Palerne 3694, I wrouȝt nouȝt þe best. 1375Barbour Bruce xviii. 158 Johne wroucht syne sa vittely. c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 403 Ful many an hethen wroghtestow ful wo. c1400Parce Michi 53 in 26 Pol. Poems 144 In youthe I wrought folyes fele. c1400Apol. Loll. 106 Þe apostil wrowt wiþ his handis þingis able to mannis vse. c1425Cast. Persev. 3277 in Macro Plays 174 Wheyþer he wrouth wel or wyckydnesse. a1529Skelton Woffully Araid 49 Y wrouȝt the, I bowgȝt the frome eternal fyre. 1533Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 39 The halie spreit vrocht this conceptione. 1539Bible (Great) Ruth ii. 19 Where wroughtest thou? 1572in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 159 His servantes that attended and wroute at the Coorte. 1573Ibid. 196 The wyerdrawer..that..wrowght upon sundry propertyes. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. iii. (S.T.S.) I. 199 How..vnwislie thay wrocht.
βa1100Life S. Chad in Anglia X. 64 He warhte eac deᵹulran eardung stowe. c1175Lamb. Hom. 91 Þa warhte god feole tacne. a1225Leg. Kath. 1071 Þet he wrahte þulliche wundres. a1250Owl & Night. 106 He..of his eyre briddes wrauhte [Cott. wraȝte]. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 56 My wreched wylle in wo ay wraȝte. c1425Wyntoun Cron. v. xiii. 5314 Al þe wilis þat he wraucht [rime noucht]. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 70 Sin, not Time, first wraught the change.
(γ) 1 wyrcte, 2 wercte; 5 wyrkkyd, 6– worked (7– work'd).
c825Vesp. Hymns i. 3 Digiti mei aptaverunt psalterium, fingras mine wyrctun hearpan. a1175Cott. Hom. 229 Þa wercte he fele wundra. c1470Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 284 They that wyrkkyd soche wooll. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxlvi. (1530) 24/1 Vrbayne..waxed proude and worked all on heed. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 106 It being smooth water, she work'd very well.
3. pa. pple. (α) 1 ᵹeworht, etc.: see ywrought. (β) 4 worȝt, worght; 3 Orm. wrohht, 3–4 wroȝt, 4 wroghte, wrouht(e, wrow(h)t, (wrohut, wroȝth, wrouth), 4–5 wroȝte, wrouȝt(e, wroht, 4–6 wroght, Sc. wrocht, 4–7 wroughte, (5 wrowgt, wrow(g)th, wrout, wrothte, wroth, wrht), 5–6 wrowght, 6 (wrowte, wrotte, rought), Sc. wroucht, (vrocht, rocht), 7 wrote, 4– wrought. (γ) [1 ᵹewarht], 3 wrauht, 6 wraught.
β [a900Leiden Riddle 3 Ni uuat ic mec biuorthæ uullan fliusum.] c1200Ormin Ded. 153 Icc hafe hemm wrohht tiss boc. c1250Gen. & Ex. 40 Of noȝt Was heuene and erðe samen wroȝt. a1300Cursor M. 25914 (Cott.) Þerfor haf i worght þis bok. c1300Havelok 1352 Dwelling haueth ofte scaþe wrouth. Ibid. 2453 He haue[de] ful wo wrowht. 13..Cursor M. 1564 (Gött.) Iesu þat all has wrohut. 13..Harrow. Hell (E.) 167 Ȝif ich haue sinnes wrouȝt. 13..Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 264 To his licnesse þou art wrout. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 94 Ȝe had nocht wrocht on that maner. a1400–50Wars Alex. 3264 Had he worȝt ay to wees welth. c1400Apol. Loll. 16 Lord, þu hast wrout al our warkis in vs. c1400Rule St. Benet (prose) Prol. iii. 3 It was wrht o-pon þe harde stane. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 79 O juge thi decre Is..wroct ful unrychtfully. c1460Promp. Parv. 278 (Winch. MS.), Madde, or wroth be crafte or cunnyng, factus. a1500Bernard. de Cura Rei Fam. iii. 81 Qwhat wonder sulde be wrothte. 1549Compl. Scot. vii. 69 The..figuris that hed bene grauit, vrocht, and brodrut. 1556Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 36 A tylte..the wych was wrotte on Assencion day. 1581N. Burne Disputation in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 119 The lyme..could not be vrocht. 1585Daniel Pref. & Ep. bef. Paulus Iouius To Rdr., Wks. (Grosart) IV. 24 This [invention]..which time hath now at length perfited and rought into a more regulare order. 1635Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds Bundle 145, No. 2 b, The earth being lately by the tide wroughte.
γ [c725Corpus Gloss. C 780 Conderetur, ᵹewarht. c893ælfred Oros. v. ii. 216 Mon hæt Corrinthisce fatu ealle þe þærof ᵹewarhte wæron. a1100Life S. Chad in Anglia X. 230 Heo wes ᵹewarht ufan on huses ᵹelicnesse.]
c1275Serving Christ 7 in O.E. Misc. 90 Yef we habbeþ werkes yeynes þi wille wrauht. 1518Sel. Pleas Star Chamb. (Selden) II. 135 To..cawse further myschefe to have byn wraught. a1542Wyatt Poems (1908) 55 Gesse, frend, what I am, or how I am wraught.
(δ) 5 worched. (ε) 6 workyd, 6– worked.
1470–85Malory Arthur vi. xi. 199 We haue worched al maner of sylke werkes. 1538workyd [see B. 8]. 1733Budgell Bee No. 5. I. 180 In what an hurry a Weekly Pamphlet of three Sheets must be work'd off.
B. Signification.
I. Transitive senses.
* To perform, execute.
1. To do, perform, practise (a deed, course of action, labour, task, business, occupation, process, etc.). Now arch.; chiefly with cognate obj. work or deed, or in such phr. as to work a miracle, to work wonders (pa. tense and pple. freq. wrought), in which sense 10 is blended with this.
Beowulf 930 A mæᵹ god wyrcan wunder æfter wundre. 971Blickl. Hom. 21 Eal swa hwæt swa se ᵹesenelica lichama deþ oþþe wyrceþ. c1000ælfric Gen. xlvii. 3 He axode hwæt hy wyrcean cuþon: hi andswarodon..: We synd scephyrdas. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 10 God weorc heo worhte on me. Ibid. John iii. 2 Ne mæᵹ nan man þas tacn wyrcan þe ðu wyrest, buton God beo mid him. c1175Lamb. Hom. 117 Leorniað god to wurchenne. c1200Ormin 9988 Swillke sinndenn alle þa Þatt wirrkenn gode werkess. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 59 Swich elmesse to wurchen. c1200–[see wonder n. 2, 3]. a1225Leg. Kath. 1053 Oðre..þurh wicchecreftes wurchið summe wundres. a1225Ancr. R. 424 Wurche þet me hat hire wiðuten grucchunge. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2218 Ðe breðere ne wisten it noȝt Hu ðis dede wurðe wroȝt. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2569 Seint germayn..prechede,..& vair miracle wroȝte. c1375Cursor M. 5870 (Fairf.) Þai salle..wirk .ij. dayes werk a-pon a day. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 241 Wirk alle thyng by conseil. c1449Pecock Repr. i. x. 50 And wolde..wirche sumwhile the oon craft and sumwhile the other craft. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 351, I maid that wif carll to werk all womenis werkis. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. §3 God worketh nothing without cause. c1600in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1919) July 435 She worcketh knittinge of stockings. 1618W. Lawson New Orch. & Garden x. (1623) 27 Grafting..is thus wrought. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. viii. (1654) 361 A Sacrament, conferring Grace by the very work wrought. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Art Poetry 264 Let not such upon the Stage be brought, Which better should behind the Scenes be wrought. 1784Cowper Task vi. 557 So God wrought double justice. 1821J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace xci, In Guienne right valiant deeds he wrought. 1851Dixon W. Penn ii. (1872) 12 The miracles wrought by Spanish saints. 1863Stanley Jew. Ch. I. iii. 64 The twenty years of exile and servitude had wrought their work. 1904Budge 3rd & 4th Egypt. Rooms Brit. Mus. 181 Stone object, with twenty facets,..probably used in working magic. 1920Engl. Hist. Rev. Jan. 25 The special work which he undertook, and the rich ability with which he wrought it.
b. To do (something evil or harmful); to commit (a sin, wrong, or crime). arch.
c825Vesp. Psalter v. 7 Alle ða ðe wircað unrehtwisnisse. c1220Bestiary 569 Sipes ȝe sinkeð, and scaðe ðus werkeð. a1300Cursor M. 24158 Vn-reufulli yee wirc vnright. c1325Spec. Gy Warw. 759 Anon, so þu hast sinne wrouht,..to shrifte þat þu gange. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 688 Þe hete..Þat enforceþ þe flech folie to wirche! a1352Minot Poems (ed. Hall) vii. 62 Fals treson alway þai wroght. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 342 The pseudo Apostilis wrouȝten persecucioun..aȝens the trewe Apostlis. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5638 When he had þis theft wrought. c1470Henry Wallace i. 161 Mony gret wrang thai wrocht. 1535Coverdale Ezek. xxxiii. 26 Ye worke abhominacions, euery one defyleth his neghbours wife. 1611Bible Matt. vii. 23 Depart from me, ye that worke iniquity. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 25 Working that malice on the creatures..which he could not..wrecke on their Creator. 1829Hood Eug. Aram xiii, Methought, last night, I wrought A murder, in a dream!
c. To perform, observe (a ceremony, etc.). Obs. exc. in Freemasonry.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 18 Mið ðec ic wyrco eastro [facio pascha] mið ðeᵹnum minum. c1325Chron. Eng. 311 in Ritson Metr. Rom. II. 283 Eleutherie, the pope of Rome, Stablede suithe sone Godes werkes wurche, Ant singe in holy Chirche. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3685 Goddes minister..Þat þe sacrament of þe auter wirkes. c1460Play Sacram. 325 Seyng hys evynsong as yt hys worshepe for to werche. 1884W. J. Hughan Origin Eng. Rite Freemasonry i. 5 It seems difficult to understand how any one conversant with their noble Histories can cherish the fancy that the Craft..and other degrees were worked by our ancient brethren during the seventeenth century. 1903J. T. Lawrence Masonic Jurisprudence & Symbolism viii. 74 What generally takes place in a lodge of instruction is that the lectures, or sections of them, are worked, officers to conduct the same being appointed at a previous meeting. 1954W. Hannah Christian by Degrees iv. 65 The 26th degree known as Prince of Mercy (not worked in England) also regards Hiram as a type of Christ in His death and resurrection. 1978Lochaber News 31 Mar. 2/7 An EA Degree was worked and was well received by the Brethren present.
†d. To carry on, wage, make (war). Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3220 Ðat folc ebru to werchen wi. a1352Minot Poems (ed. Hall) vi. 31 A were es wroght..Ȝowre walles with to wrote. c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. metr. vii. 114 (Camb. MS.) Agamenon, þat wrowhte and continuede the batayles by x. ȝer. c1475Partenay 4056 Where this Geant were procured and wrought.
2. To perform, carry out, execute (a person's will, advice, etc.). Obs. or arch. (in later use passing into sense 10).
971Blickl. Hom. 67 Þæt þu scealt on æᵹhwylee tid Godes willan wercan. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. vii. 21 Se þe wyrcð mines fæder willan. c1175Lamb. Hom. 81 Hu me sulde godalmihti serue, and his wille wurche in orðe. a1225Juliana 35 (Bodl. MS.) Wurch eleusius wil for ich þe ȝeoue leaue. c1350Will. Palerne 307 He..graunted him..Forto worchen his wille as lord wiþ his owne. a1375Joseph Arim. 491 His riche men..þat his red wrouȝten. c1400Destr. Troy 1881 All the soueranis..assignet me hir, For to wirke with my wille, & weld as myn owne. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxix. 23 Lat Fortoun wirk furthe hir rage. 1595Munday John a Kent (Shaks. Soc.) 12 Leave the God of heaven to woorke his will. 1700Dryden Cock & Fox 589 The false loon, who could not work his will By open force, employ'd his flattering skill.
** To construct, produce, effect.
3. To produce by (or as by) labour or exertion; to make, construct, manufacture; to form, fashion, shape. Obs. or arch. in general sense; often, now usually, implying artistic or ornamental workmanship (most commonly in pa. pple. wrought; see also e). See also work up, 39 h.
Beowulf 1452 Swa hine fyrndaᵹum worhte wæpna smið. c1205Lay. 22911 Ich þe wulle wurche a bord..þat þer maȝen setten to sixtene hundred & ma. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 559 Of body ful wel wrought was she. c1386― Sqr.'s T. 120 He þat it wroghte koude ful many a gyn. c1420Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 271 A bok..Þat men callyt an abece, Pratylych I-wrout. Ibid., Wrout is on þe bok with-oute, V. paraffys [Bodl. MS. 789 wrouȝt]. c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1882 So curyously, in so lytell a compace, In all thys world was neuer thyng wrought. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 264 To ane preuie Chalmer..thay him led, Quhair ane burely bed was wrocht. 1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 138 Quharof the beis wrocht thar hunny sweit. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 115 Some of them, whych..worke ye kinges Artillarie for war. 1584Cogan Haven Health lxxxiii. (1636) 86 The liver..is the place where all the humours of the body are first wrought. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 267 The blind laborious Mole In winding Mazes works her hidden Hole. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 103 A hundred cabinet-makers in London can work a table..equally well. 1791Cowper Iliad xvi. 272 A goblet exquisitely wrought. 1817J. Evans Excurs. Windsor, etc. 258 A public road, beneath which is worked a path conducting to a fine lawn. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. i. (1858) 4 Whether the first..whaling harpoon used in America was wrought there. 1864J. Hunt tr. Vogt's Lect. Man x. 269 The [flint] instruments of oval shape have been mostly worked by gentle blows.
(b) with immaterial object.
a1300Cursor M. 29326 All þaa þat wirkes Laus gain right of hali kirkes. 1721Prior Predestination Wks. 1907 II. 351 Are not the Texture of our Actions wrought By something inward that directs our thought? 1752Gray Bentley 7 Each dream, in fancy's airy colouring wrought.
b. Said of God: To create. Also in pass., the pa. pple. sometimes becoming equivalent to ‘born’. Obs. or rare arch. See also 7.
Beowulf 92 Þæt se ælmihtiᵹa eorðan worhte. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xix. 4 Qui fecit ab initio masculum et feminam fecit eos, seðe worohte from fruma woepen-monn & wifmonn ᵹeworhte hia. a1225Leg. Kath. 369 Nis buten an godd,..þet al þe world wrahte. a1300Cursor M. 373 He wroght apon þe toþer day Þe firmament. c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 90 Alas (quoth shee) that I was wrought. c1441in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 205 Alle women that in this world be wrowght. a1550Freiris Berwik 364 in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 297 Quhat sall I do? Allace, that I wes wrocht. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxlv. v, All creatures thou hast wrought..shall their Creator sound. 1639Mure Ps. viii. iii, The moone, the twinckling starrs..Works, by thy finger wroght. 1648Bp. Hall Breathings Devout Soul §19 The less I can satisfie my self with marvailing at thy works, the more let me adore the majesty and omnipotence of thee that wroughtest them.
c. To construct, build (a house, church, wall, bridge, etc.) Obs. or rare arch. See also 39 a.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 22 Ða cwædon hi betwux him þæt hi woldon wyrcan ane burh. 13..Leg. Gregory 218 Chirches, chapels, boþe ysame Werche sche dede. 14..Sir Beues (MS. M.) 3685 Beues dyd wyrke Abbeys, mynesters, and meny a kirke. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 64 Weill wroght wes the wall, And payntit with pride. 1667Milton P.L. x. 300 They..the Mole immense wraught on Over the foaming deep high Archt. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. 7 Mar. (1707) 18 An old Bridge..exceeding well wrought. 1735J. Price Stone-Br. Thames 7 Scaffolds for working the said Piers from Bottom to Top. 1747Gould Engl. Ants 12 Their [sc. ants'] double Saw, by means whereof they work their Apartments. 1876Morris Sigurd i. 1 Earls were the wrights that wrought it [sc. a house].
†d. To ‘make’, obtain (a friend). Obs. rare.
c888ælfred Boeth. xxiv. §3 Mid þis and weardan welan mon wyrcð oftor fiond ðonne freond. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 41 Mid weldede of giue [man mai] frend wuerche.
e. const. of, rarely out of (the material or constituents); also in (some material), usually implying artistic or ornamental workmanship. (In later use almost always in pa. pple. wrought.)
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §12 Hit is þæs godcundan anwealdes ᵹewuna þæt he wircð of yfle good. c1000Ags. Gosp. John ii. 15 He worhte swipan of strengon. c1000ælfric Gen. vi. 14 Wyrc ðe nu anne arc of aheawenum bordum. c1000― Hom. I. 12 God..cwæð þæt he wolde wyrcan mannan of eorðan. c1200Ormin 15182 Nollde nohht te Laferrd Crist..Hemm wirrkenn win inoh off nohht,..Acc wollde off waterr wirrkenn win. a1300Cursor M. 22804 He þat dos flexs worth in to lame, O lam mai wirc flessli licam. a1375Joseph Arim. 204 A newe chaumbre-wouh wrouȝt al of bordes. c1400Mandeville (1919) xxiv. 141 In the myddes of this palays is the mountour for the grete Cane þat is alle wrought of gold & precyous stones. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 131 O Lord, quhilk wrocht all thingis of nocht. 1596Edw. III, iii. i. 68 Their streaming Ensignes, wrought of coulloured silke. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 681 Good milstones are wrought out of the rocke. 1709A. Philips To Earl of Dorset 34 Every shrub, and every blade of grass, And every pointed thorn, seem'd wrought in glass. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xl, Various ornaments..wrought in the purest gold. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 206 Forty-six noble columns, some wrought in granite and some in marble.
†4. To compose (a book or writing), to write.
c900tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xvii, On þære bec, þe ic worhte. 971Blickl. Hom. 169 Se ðe þas boc worhte. c1200Ormin Ded. 24 Þatt icc Þiss werrc þe shollde wirrkenn. Ibid. 14269 Þatt boc, þatt Moysæs & tatt profetess wrohhtenn. a1272Luue Ron 2 in O.E. Misc. 93 A Mayde cristes me bit yorne Þat ich hire wurche a luue ron. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14836 Of Ynge saw y neuere nought, Neyþer in boke write ne wrought. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 372 As thogh that he of malice wolde endyten Despyt of love, and had him-self hit wroght. 1617Woodall Surg. Mate Pref., Wks. (1653) 13 Who likes, approves, and usefull deems This work, for him 'tis wrought. 1746Francis tr. Hor., Sat. i. iv. 60 Some therefore ask, can comedy be thought A real poem, since it may be wrought In style and subject without fire or force.
†b. To utter, speak, say. Obs. rare.
c1350in Horstmann Altengl. Leg. (1881) 30 Þai ditted þaire eris, for þai suld noght Here þir wurdes þat þus war wroght. a1352Minot Poems (ed. Hall) i. 45 Philip Valays wordes wroght And said he suld þaire enmys sla.
5. To make (a ‘web’ or textile fabric), to weave; to make (something consisting of such fabric, as a garment, quilt, etc.) by means of needlework, to sew or knit; to ornament with a design, figure, or pattern in needlework, to embroider.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 377 Two pilches weren ðurȝ engeles wroȝt. a1400Engl. Gilds (1870) 350 Non of þe Citee ne shal don werche qwyltes ne chalouns by-þoute þe walles. c1449Gesta Rom. xliii. 171 A damisell..þe whiche can wel werche your sherte. 1511–12Act 3 Hen. VIII c. 6. §1 The Walker and Fuller shall truely walke fulle thikke and werke every webbe of wollen yerne. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 991 Now she vnweaues the web that she hath wrought. 1595― John iv. i. 43 My hand-kercher..(The best I had, a Princesse wrought it me). 1651Davenant Gondibert ii. xxviii, These belts (wrought with their ladies' care). 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Pulse, She was working a pair of ruffles. 1784Cowper Task i. 33 A splendid cover..of tapestry richly wrought. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. ii. 21 You have wrought your web thinner and thinner. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 654 In the weaving of ribbed hosiery, the plain rib courses are wrought alternately. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 174 The princess, who had been educated only to work embroidery, to play on the spinet, [etc.]. 1868L. M. Alcott Little Women vi, I'm going to work Mr. Laurence a pair of slippers.
b. const. with the design, figure, or pattern.
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 897 His garnement was euerydell Portreied and wrought with floures. 1480Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV. (1830) 115 An hoby harneis..enbrowdered and wroght with ageletts of silver and gilt. 1575in Archaeologia XXX. 12 Sixe quyshions, wrought withe my L. [= Lord's] armes. 1842Tennyson Audley Court 20 A damask napkin wrought with horse and hound.
c. with the design, figure, or pattern as obj.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. 207* The Danes bare in their Ensigne a Raven wrought..in needle-worke. 1841Hart's Fancy-work Bk. 18 To work patterns drawn on canvas. 1859J. Brown Horæ Subs. Ser. i. (1861) 286 Working her name on the blankets. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts ix. (1885) 65 The maxims you cherish would have served..for your grandmother to work on samplers.
6. To make (an image or figure); to delineate, paint, or draw (a picture, ornamental design, etc.); to carve (a statue or piece of sculpture); also, to represent by an image, portray, picture. Obs. or arch. exc. in special connexions. See also 39 h.
a1300Cursor M. 23216 Painted fire..Þat apon a wagh war wroght. 1448–9J. Metham Amoryus & Cleopes 60 Lettyrrys off gold, þat gay were wrowght to þe ye. 1597W. Barlow Navig. Supply H 1, If these diuisions be wrought vpon Latten plates. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. xii. 206, I shall proceed to the working a Pattern or two in Soft Wood. 1697Dryden æneis v. 328 There, Ganymede is wrought with living Art. a1707Prior To the Hon. C. Montague ii, Each, like the Graecian Artist, woo's The Image He himself has wrought. 1769Sir J. Reynolds Disc. (1778) 19 The pictures, thus wrought with such pain, now appear like the effect of enchantment. 1780Mirror No. 103 A large iron gate, at the top of which the family arms are worked. 1874J. H. Pollen Anc. & Mod. Furniture S. Kens. Mus. 129 As the ornamental tooling is worked on leather by the book⁓binder.
†7. With complemental word or phrase: To cause to be{ddd}, make, render; to change, convert, turn into something different; to bring into a specified state; also, to make or create in the form of. With simple compl. or const. to, into. Obs.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 13 Hyt ys awriten, min hus is ᵹebedhus; witodlice ᵹe worhton þæt to þeofa cote. c1205Lay. 18737 His lond þu forbernest, & hine blæð wurchest. a1300Cursor M. 8392 For þi luue was i widue wroght. Ibid. 12370 Ye þat he has wroght to men And þat efter his aun ymage. Ibid. 24088 (Edin.) Þat wroht me out of wite. 13..Ibid. 13824 (Gött.) He þat me hal has wroght. c1400Destr. Troy 9004 Mony woundet þat worthy & wroght vnto dethe. c1410Sir Cleges 336 Thys sawe I neuer.., Syn I was man wrowght! c1480Henryson Want of Wyse Men 6 Welth is away, wit is now wrochtin to wrinkis. 15..Dunbar Poems lxxii. 115 Ordane for Him ane resting-place, That is so werie wrocht for the. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. ii. 47 We had need pray..for our deliuerance; Or this imperious man will worke vs all From Princes into Pages. 1639J. Saltmarsh Policy 43 If you suspect the performance of a promise, worke them obliged by some speciall engagement and pawne.
8. To make, form, or fashion into something (formerly also † in); to make up; to compound (ingredients); to shape (material). See also 39 e.
In various connexions; cf. senses above. Often with special reference to the process or operation performed; thus passing into branch ***.
1538Starkey England ii. i. 173 Our marchantys cary them [sc. lead and tin] out.., and then bryng the same in workyd agayn, and made vessel therof. 1558in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) I. 303 All our olde hempe is spunne and wrought in tenne cables..and thirteene Hausers. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 65 Gun-powder of a..Russet colour..may be judged to have all its Receipts well wrought. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. i. 9 When you joyn several Bars of Iron together..and work them into one Bar. 1717Prior Alma iii. 461, I..melted down my Plate, On Modern Models to be wrought. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. ii. 135 To unlay a cable to work into running rigging. 1820Q. Mus. Mag. II. 17 The subject of the Fugata..is a very good one. It were to be wished that it had been worked into a regular Fugue. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464 String Rugs..are made from odds and ends of..wool, which are..worked into coarse canvas in loops.
†b. To inflict (wounds). Obs.
c1400Melayne 1522 We sall wirke þam wondis full wyde. c1460Towneley Myst. xxvi. 363 Anoyntmentys..ffor to anoyntt his woundys sere, That Iues hym wroght. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 339 These theues and robeurs smote..fiersly vpon philotes.., worchynge and gyuyng to him many woundes.
c. To produce or cause by continued application of physical force, e.g. friction; to ‘wear’ (a cavity, etc.) by attrition.
1836C. Wordsworth Athens xxvi. (1855) 174 The wheels have worked deep grooves in the rock. Mod. He works holes in the seat of his trousers.
9. To put in, insert, incorporate, esp. in the way of construction or composition (cf. 3, 4): in various special connexions (see quots.). See also 36 a.
1663Gerbier Counsel 83 Glasse wrought with good lead,..Glass wrought with an Arch well leaded. 1707Curios. Husb. & Gard. 262 We..work into the Aperture, the Colours we would give the Flower. 1710Steele Tatler No. 226 ⁋1 Those occasional Dissertations, which he has wrought into the Body of his History. 1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 48 To..work 3 whole Plank between 2 Buts. 1753–4Richardson Grandison II. vii. 42 The love of pleasure..was wrought into his habit. He was a slave to it. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 254 Such a hedge may be repaired by thrusting..brush..into the holes..and..working saplings through it obliquely. 1888Iron 25 May 465 Heavy coils of iron..have been wrought round the..fore part of each gun.
b. Hort. To graft (on a stock): also fig.
1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. 10 The Romanes early wrought so much civility upon the Brittish stock. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) I. 28 Getting the word of life wrought in your heart. 1837T. Rivers Rose Amateur's Guide 72 A collection of Chinese Roses worked on short stems. 1859R. Thompson Gard. Assist. 387 The..portion cut off, is termed the scion, or graft, and the rooted plant, on which it is placed or worked, is called the stock. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 203 [The Kilmarnock willow] is frequently worked on low stems, and in consequence much of its beauty is lost.
10. To effect, bring about, bring to pass; to accomplish, achieve; to cause, produce. (In early use often approaching sense 1.) Esp. in phr. to work havoc, where the pa. tense wrought is common (though it is often interpreted as the pa. tense of wreak: cf. wreak v. 8 b). See also 38 f, 39 h.
c1220Bestiary 498 He him iuel werkeð. c1250Gen. & Ex. 850 He werken sckaðe and bale. Ibid. 1812 Ðe ne leate ic noȝt, Til ðin bliscing on me beð wroȝt. c1315Shoreham Poems i. 774 Sauuacion to werche. 1340–70Alisaunder 412 With his ferefull folke to Phocus hee rides, And is wilfull in werk to wirchen hem care. 13..Cursor M. 20926 (Edin.) To quilis he wroȝte þe cristin scam. c1350Will. Palerne 1173 Forto wirch me no wrong. 1382Wyclif 2 Cor. vii. 10 That sorwe that is aftir God, worchith penaunce..; forsoth sorwe of the world worchith deeth. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1696 Lucretia, Ful longe lay the sege & lytil wroughten. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. i. (1495) e iv b/1 In dyuerse maters [heete] werkyth dyuerse effectes. c1400Pety Job 32 in 26 Pol. Poems 122 So moche woo hit [sc. sin] hath vs wrought. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxi. 5 He wirkis sorrow to him sell. 1549Compl. Scot. xv. 135 Tariand quhil the tyme virk ane bettir chance. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 110 They were confederated..to worke him an vtter mischiefe. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 39 Whose daggers dinte wrought his dolefull death. 1596Bacon Max. Com. Law iii. (1636) 15 Words are so to be understood, that they worke somewhat, and be not idle and frivolous. 1601Daniel Civ. Wars i. l, Who else..his safetie might haue wrought. 1648Gage West Ind. 200 He replyed, that what Porke might work upon mans body in other Nations, it worked not there. 1724Ramsay Vision xxiv, Lat them..stryve to wirk my fall. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 87 ⁋2 Though good advice was given, it has wrought no reformation. 1825Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 17 To wait the event of this campaign will certainly work delay. 1831James Phil. Augustus xxxi, The ravages that confinement and sorrow had worked upon him. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xxvi, The beer had wrought no bad effect upon his appetite. 1843Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Virginia 78 Let him who works the client wrong beware the patron's ire! 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 475 They were objects of general esteem and respect.., and wrought an impression favourable to the ultimate reception of the doctrines which they taught. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 183 The destruction wrought by the sea. 1900,1908[see havoc n. 2]. 1912Halsbury's Laws of England XXIV. 250 An alienation by tenant in tail..worked a discontinuance. 1978Washington Post 30 Nov. a–14/2 Settlers who are prone to California dreaming,..and on whom..the anything-goes atmosphere and the wide-open spaces work havoc. 1983National Law Jrnl. (U.S.) 4 July 14/2 With hard disk technology..power failures can often work havoc. 1984Financial Times 4 June iii. p. vii, A decade of inflation had wrought havoc with its portfolio of fixed interest mortgages.
†11. To act in order to or so as to effect (something); to plan, devise, contrive; to put in practice, manage (a business or proceeding). Obs.
c1300K. Horn 288 (Laud) Wat reymnild wroute Mikel wonder him þoute. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 85 Such Weddyng to worche to wraþþe with truþe. 1561Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer ii. (1577) G viij, Hee ought to worke the matter wisely. 1621J. Taylor (Water P.) Unnat. Father Wks. (1630) ii. 137/2 He resolued to worke some meanes to take away their..liues. 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 78 The Conspiratours so wrought the matter, that very many of the Nobility assented to the marriage. 1647–8Cottrell tr. Davila's Hist. France (1678) 19 The Cardinal ardently wrought the Prince's destruction by counseling the King. 1667Milton P.L. i. 646 To work in close design, by fraud or guile What force effected not.
b. colloq. To arrange, engineer, or bring about. Usu. const. it.
1889E. Dowson Let. 1 Mar. (1967) 42 If you can possibly work it meet me somewhere to-morrow. 1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma iii. 57 The way to work it is this. I'll postdate the cheque next October. 1953K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxxi. 305 I'll get young Rene... I guess I can work it. 1962Wodehouse Service with Smile xi. 177 Uncle Fred, did you work this? 1975D. Lodge Changing Places i. 17 Masters (who was Chairman) was prepared to work it for Philip if he was interested.
*** To do something to an object (thing or person).
12. To bestow labour or effort upon; to operate upon: in various connexions and shades of meaning.
a. To till, cultivate (land): = labour v. 1; rarely, to cultivate (a plant or crop).
c1000ælfric Gen. ix. 20 Noe..began to wyrcenne ðæt land. c1440Pallad. on Husb. iii. 589 Faat lond, ydonged, moyst, & well ywroght Oynons desire. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 49 b, [God] dyd..set hym in paradyse..for that entent that he sholde worke and kepe it. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 120 Choose soile for the hop of the rottenest mould, well doonged and wrought. 1622in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 107 The earth is soft and sandy, esy to bee wrought. 1744in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. App. ii. 121 For the..raising, planting, and working a vegetable (called Sesamo) extraordinary productive of oyl. 1796C. Marshall Garden. xx. (1813) 394 When the ground can be conveniently worked. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 263 The common of Rattry..is indeed very barren; but if it were wrought, it would produce turnips and then grass.
b. To get, ‘win’ (stone or slate from a quarry, ore or coal from a mine, etc.) by labour; also with the quarry, mine, etc. as obj.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3069 Me wolde wene þat in þis lond no ston to worke nere. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vii. 226 The silver that hath beene wrought in the country. 1618Ralegh Apol. Guiana (1650) 54 It had been no lesse a breach of Peace to have wrought any Myne of his,..then it is now cald'd..a breach of peace to take a towne of his. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmld. x. 62 We found the Vein wrought three Yards wide, and twenty Fathom deep. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. 21 Several parts of the Lode..have been indiscreetly hulked and worked. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. §99, I..went to view the quarries where the flat paving and steps were wrought. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. iv. 124 Roofing⁓slates and flagstones have been worked in some places. 1844J. Dunn Oregon Terr. 241 The natives were anxious that we should employ them to work the coal. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 212/1 Several mines were worked for this metal.
c. with various objects: see quots.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1721 Lucretia, Softe wolle..she wroughte. 1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 360 When he worked White Paper, he caught the sheet by the upper further corner. 1839Mrs. Kirkland New Home x. 60 The road had been but little ‘worked’..and in some parts was almost in a state of nature. 1880Carnegie Pract. Trap. 7 The heaps with the most distinct tracks and most worked (i.e., continually used). 1883Chamb. Jrnl. 15 Dec. 791 Produce of value, such as tea, coffee, indigo, drugs, etc., have to be ‘worked’ for sale purposes; and this term embraces the opening of the package, examination for sea-damage, sorting into qualities, and a host of other operations.
d. To manipulate (a substance) so as to bring it into the required condition; esp. to knead, press, stir, etc. (a plastic substance), or to mix or incorporate (such substances) together by this means; also, to spread (a colour or pigment) over a surface.
1417York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 183 That he wyrk na lede amanges any other metall.., bot if it be in souldur. 1466Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 326 That no tanner, ne glover,..wyrche harr leddyr at the ryver. 1494Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 19 Cussions stuffed with..gotis here, which is wrought in lyme fattes. 1565–6Blundevil Horsemanship, Horses Dis. liii. (1580) 22 Mingle them togither, & stirre them continuallie in a pot.., vntill the Quicksiluer be so wrought with the rest, as you shall perceiue no quicksiluer therein. 1575Gascoigne Glasse Govt. Wks. 1910 II. 36 You shall see..how I will worke this geare lyke wax. 1653Walton Angler viii. 172 Mix with it [sc. paste] Virgins-wax and clarified honey, and work them together with your hands before the fire. 1747–96H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 340 When they are wrought to a paste, roll them with the ends of your fingers. 1756M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club) 147 This salt they work into the butter. 1852Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIII. i. 41 After the butter is taken from the churn it must first be well squeezed or ‘worked’ by the hand. 1853A. Soyer Pantroph. 285 Some cooks..worked sesame flour..with honey and oil. 1885C. Wallis Dict. Water-colour Technique 14 The first tone should be decidedly grey..; and on this may be worked Raw Sienna and Brown Madder.
e. To shape (stone, metal, or other hard substance) by cutting or other process; also, to beat out or shape (metal) by hammering (see wrought ppl. a. 4). Also with down. Also transf. to wear by friction or attrition. Also fig.
1665Phil. Trans. I. 65 Before the Glass is wrought down to its true Figure. 1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 157 A greater number of Boards to work to a Level. 1703Ibid. 37 Till you have wrought [ed. 1677 filed] the Spindle from end to end. 1717Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 550 Stone easily wrought. 1781Cowper Flatting Mill 2 When a bar of pure silver or ingot of gold Is sent to be flatted or wrought into length. 1844Mrs. Browning Lady Geraldine's Courtship li, Little thinking if we work our souls as nobly as our iron. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xlix. (1856) 465 It [sc. an iceberg] is an amorphous mass, so worn that it must have been sorely wrought before its release from the glacier. 1855Squier Adv. Mosquito Shore ix. (1856) 146 The trunk of the ceiba..is invaluable... The wood is easily worked. 1885Athenæum 21 Mar. 382/1 The facility of working it [sc. limestone] would lead one to expect that an arcuated architecture would have sprung up in Assyria.
f. To do artistic work upon; to decorate, inlay (with something). (Cf. inwrought 1.) rare.
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 61 Two Pillars..couered and wrought with blue and Gold. Ibid., Roofe and sides imbost and wrought with gold.
g. Sporting (with the game, or the scent, as obj.).
1568in Archaeologia XXXV. 207 The Emperore and my Lord wente a hontynge of the hare..and worked xx. hares or theare aboutes. 1855Smedley H. Coverdale iii. 13 He says we've worked them [sc. the rabbits] quite enough. 1888Times 16 Oct. 10/5 When I tried to work the scent of a deer which had got away.., the hound proved quite useless.
h. to work one's passage (etc.): to pay for one's passage on board ship by working during the voyage. Also fig.
app. arising from ellipsis for work for; but cf. 38 e.
1727‘E. Dorrington’ Hermit ii. 121 He sees..Hay-makers, going to work,..and resolves to make one of their Number, and work his passage up to London. 1743[see passage n. 4 b]. [ 1751Affect. Narr. Wager 151 The Captain of this Vessel he prevail'd on to carry them..on Condition of..their Working the Voyage for their Passage.] 1803D. Wordsworth Jrnl. 25 Aug. (1941) I. 257 He was just come from America... I do not think that he had brought much [money] back with him, for he had worked his passage over. 1836C. P. Traill Backw. Canada 8 A pretty yellow-haired lad,..who works his passage out. 1849Thackeray Pendennis xxv, Some months afterwards Amory made his appearance at Calcutta, having worked his way out before the mast from the Cape. 1884Century Mag. Jan. 365/1 An educated young Englishman..worked his passage as a coal-passer and ash-heaver. 1934G. B. Shaw Village Wooing 113, I have no time for talk. I have to work my passage. 1958Oxf. Mag. 15 May 448/2 Italy, liberated piecemeal and ‘working her passage’ to the improved status of the Hyde Park Declaration and the New Deal for Italy. 1973Times 20 Mar. 13/2 One of the greatest bores in packing is choosing which shoes to take... They are heavy..and do not really work their passage.
i. colloq. or slang. To go through or about (a place) for the purposes of one's business or occupation; to carry on one's trade or business, or some operation, in.
spec. (a) of a hound, (b) of an itinerant vendor, beggar, etc.; (c) of a clergyman; (d) of a canvasser; (e) of a thief, esp. a pickpocket.
1834P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 68, I gave up my bitch..to Joe, to work the enclosures, and he got 5 brace and 1 hare. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 79 I've worked both town and country on gold fish. 1859Slang Dict. 117 To work a street or neighbourhood, trying at each house to sell all one can. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xii, Frank Maberly [a parson] had been..as he expressed it, ‘working the slums’ at Exeter. 1865Leaves from Diary Celebrated Burglar & Pickpocket xvi. 55/2 They agreed, upon their discharge, to ‘work’ together. Ibid. xvi. 53/1 Joe edged himself into the Scotch Boy's ‘mob’..and ‘worked’ with them. 1882J. D. McCabe New York 520 Even vessels lying at anchor in the harbor, are busily worked by [thieves]. a1885Sladen Poetry of Exiles (ed. 2) I. 24 You and I..Were working on this very Twelfth the old Dumfriesshire moor. 1893Daily News 18 Feb. 3/5 To use an electioneering phrase, it is not easy to ‘work’ this hilly region. 1897Tit-Bits 4 Dec. 186/2 A professional beggar who ‘works’ seventy or eighty streets in a few hours. 1905E. Wallace Four Just Men viii. 153 The night being comparatively young, Billy decided to work the trams. 1930― Lady of Ascot i. 19 It's the same crowd that has been working country houses for weeks. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xvi. 181 They [sc. pickpockets] used to go off in busloads..to ‘work’ various districts of London. 1951W. C. Williams Autobiogr. xlv. 299 He had been a fur thief working the big department stores. 1963T. Tullett Inside Interpol xii. 171 A Pole..last caught in August, 1957, working a crowd in Geneva.
transf.1883Century Mag. XXVI. 393 He ‘worked’ the hunting-field largely. It constantly reappears in his novels.
j. slang. To deal with in some way; to get, or to get rid of, esp. by artifice; (of an itinerant vendor) to hawk, sell.
1839Dict. Flash or Cant. Lang. 36 Work the Bulls, get rid of bad 5s. pieces. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 84 They made more money ‘working’ these [sc. pine-apples] than any other article. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer x, Somebody might claim the colt..—say you'd worked him on the cross.
k. To investigate or study systematically. See also work out (38 k), work up (39 j).
1900J. Shephard & W. Strickland in Handbk. Austral. Assoc., Melbourne 74 The aquatic worms are an untouched group. There are very many forms and when worked they will doubtless yield interesting results.
l. To operate upon so as to get into some state or convert into something else; to bring or reduce to; refl. with compl. adj. to go through some process so as to become... See also work up, 39 e.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. 70 An English trauayler..aduised me to make the same [sc. Malmesey] alwaies about the middest of Maie, that it might haue 3. hot moneths togither to work it to his ful perfection. 1713Addison Cato i. ad fin., So the pure limpid Stream, when foul with Stains..Work's it self clear, and as it runs, refines. 1753–4Richardson Grandison II. ix. 59 His estate would.. work itself clear. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such v. 113 All human achievement must be wrought down to this spoon-meat. 1884Manch. Exam. 20 Feb. 4/6 It would take some time for the trade to work itself right.
13. Math., etc. = work out, 38 g; cf. 28.
1593T. Fale Horologiogr. 25, I worke this altogether like to the South reclining 45.d{ddd}untill I have found out the Elevation of the Meridian. 1623J. Johnson Arith. ii. 137 A second way more briefly to worke this question. Ibid. 291 The same example wrought another way. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. xiv. 86 English Navigators work their Observation by the Complement of the Sun's Altitude. 1794J. H. Moore Pract. Navig. (1828) 40 In all proportions wrought by Gunter's Scale. 1803Beddoes Hygëia ix. 72 To sit a horse and to work figures by head at the same time. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. v, The sum comes to the same figures, worked either way. 1885S. Laing Mod. Sci. & Th. 5 To calculate the distance..with as much ease..as if we were working a simple sum of rule of three.
14. (= work on, 30).
a. To act upon the mind or will of; to influence, prevail upon, induce, persuade (esp. by subtle or insidious means); more widely, to bring into a particular mental state, disposition, etc. Also, in later use, to strive or take measures to induce or persuade; to urge. See also work up, 39 k.
1595Daniel Civ. Wars v. lxxvii, For frends, opinion, & succeeding chaunce, Which wrought the weak to yeld, the strong to loue. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xviii. §2 In Negotiation with others; men are wrought by cunning, by Importunitie, and by vehemencie. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 532 Yet could hee not bee wrought..to disclose his complices. 1642Rogers Naaman 45 What doth the Lord? workes Peters heart from that objection, and so from un⁓willingnesse. 1713Addison Cato ii. i, Are your Hearts subdu'd..and wrought By Time and ill Success to a Submission? 1832Tennyson Miller's Dau. xxx, God..who wrought Two spirits to one equal mind. 1858G. Macdonald Phantastes iii, The house or the clothes..cannot be wrought into an equal power of utterance.
1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxvi, I have been working him even now to abandon her. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iii, He was constantly working the Squire to send him..to a public school. 1880Blackmore Mary Anerley liv, Sooner, or later, he must come round; and the only way to do it, is to work him slowly.
b. To act upon the feelings of; to affect, agitate, stir, move, excite, incite. Also refl. (occas. intr. for refl.). Now usually work up; see 39 k.
1605Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 149 My dull Braine was wrought with things forgotten. 1610― Temp. iv. i. 144 Your fathers in some passion That workes him strongly. 1697Dryden æneis x. 1247 Love, Anguish, Wrath, and Grief, to Madness wrought,..his lab'ring Soul oppress'd. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §4 Sometimes they work themselves into high passions. 1809–11Combe Syntax xx. 21 The well-dress'd man now stopp'd, to know What work'd the angry Doctor so. 1838Dickens O. Twist iv, Grasping his cane tightly, as was his wont when working into a passion. 1838― Nich. Nick. xxxiv, ‘Who has?’ demanded Ralph, wrought by the intelligence.., and his clerk's provoking coolness, to an intense pitch of irritation. 1848― Dombey xxiii, Endeavouring to work herself into a state of resentment. 1854Milman Lat. Christ. ix. ii. (1864) V. 210 Philip..wrought by indignation from his constitutional mildness. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. v. 13 Which rigour wrought those children of the ground To that mad rising.
c. Of medicine: To take effect upon.
1712–13Swift Jrnl. to Stella 25 Mar., I take a little physic over-night, which works me next day. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 26 Apr., Let. ii, It worked Mrs. Gwyllim a pennorth.
d. To practise on, hoax, cheat, ‘do’. U.S.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xix. 183 Preachin's my line, too; and workin' camp-meetin's. 1892Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 21 Sept. 6/1 (heading) Waltham officers looking for a horse dealer who has been working that town. 1894Howells Trav. fr. Altruria 122, I might..suspect him..of..working us, as my husband calls it.
**** To move, direct.
15. To move (something) into or out of some position, or with alternating movement (to and fro, up and down, etc.): usually with some implication of force exerted against resistance or impediment. Also fig.
1617Moryson Itin. i. 115 This little ditch is not alwaies in one place but in time workes it selfe from one place to another. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 49 Her Rudder wrought it self out of the Irons, hanging only by the upper⁓most Pintell. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton ix. (1840) 166 The rage of the floods..works down a great deal of gold out of the hills. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. xx, That secret charm, which, once impressed upon the human heart, is rarely wrought out of the remembrance by a long train of subsequent events. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 327 Water is poured into it, and soil stirred in till the pit is half full of mud... The roots of the tree are then inserted, and worked about. 1857B. Taylor Northern Trav. xii. (1858) 127 In vain I shifted my aching legs and worked my benumbed hands. 1867F. Francis Bk. Angling v. 135 Some people work their flies. 1889Science-Gossip XXV. 62 The tube..can be ‘worked down’ through the hyaline cap. 1902Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Apr. 878 Loose body felt at inner side of knee and by working the knee he can make it evident to the touch. 1918Times Lit. Suppl. 11 July 325/4 A neighbouring battery of guns..were being worked into position with a heaving-song.
16. To direct or manage the movement of; to guide or drive in a particular course; spec., Naut. to direct the movement of (a ship) by management of the sails and rudder; to move and direct (a boat), as with oars; also in Angling, to ‘play’ (a fish). Also of a locomotive engine, to pull (a train).
1667Milton P.L. ix. 513 A Ship by skilful Steersman wrought Nigh Rivers mouth or Foreland. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 15 The Practick Part of Navigation, in working of a Ship in all Weathers at Sea. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 336 Having no Sails to work the Ship with. 1762Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 160 Make a dam..and a sluice, and work the water upon it through the winter. 1807P. Gass Jrnl. 193 Making the finest canoes,..and..expert in working them when made. 1825J. Wilson Noctes Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 74 He worked a salmon to a miracle. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. v, Getting on the box, and working the team down street. 1878C. Tuttle Border Tales 31 To work the ship out of danger. 1912Standard 20 Sept. 7/2 Special trains..will be worked over the systems of the Great Northern [etc.] railways. 1982Railway Mag. Nov. 508/1 A replacement..powered the train as far as Carnforth where another ‘47’ was later provided to work it forward.
b. To herd (sheep, cattle, etc.). Also intr. for pass. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z.
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. i. 5 The practice was for a shepherd to go round the boundary once or twice a day, and at night work the sheep below one of the river terraces to camp. 1946F. Davison Dusty (Foreword), Sheep dogs..working lost flocks in the mountain gullies. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. July 5/2 Sheep work and draft best on a slight up-grade. 1961B. Crump Hang on a Minute 87 With Jack working along the top of the ridge and Sam half-way down the side they worked all the sheep off that side of the valley. 1976Evening Post (Bristol) 23 Apr. 24/9 (Advt.), Border collie bitch starting to work cattle.
17. refl. To make one's (or its) way; = 18.
1576Turberv. Venerie 196 [The vermin] will..worke themselues further in, so that your Terriers shall not be able to find them. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 99 Octavian..wrought himselfe into her good will. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §15 How to make a Boat work it self against both Wind and Tide. 1711Addison Spect. No. 121 ⁋5 [The mole] so swiftly working her self under Ground, and making her way so fast in the Earth. 1838Dickens O. Twist l, The women worked themselves into the centre of the crowd. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iv, Tom..worked himself into his shoes and his great coat. 1871Smiles Charac. i. (1876) 21 The solitary thought of a great thinker will dwell in the minds of men for centuries, until at length it works itself into their daily life.
18. with way, etc. as obj., usually to work one's or its way: = 33, 33 b; also fig.
1713Addison Cato i. iii, Through Winds, and Waves, and Storms, he works his way. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 311 They worked their way down these streams. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. ix, [A contagious disease] ravaged the English Borders, and made some incursions into Scotland where it afterwards worked a fearful progress. 1889‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob ii. (1891) 20 Mrs. Trafford worked her way round to Major Lovelace. 1889R. Brydall Art Scot. vi. 106 He gradually wrought his way against the usual obstacles which a poor artist must always encounter. 1908[Eliz. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 23 The fluffy golden kerria..having worked its way through the thick wall.
***** Causal senses.
19. To set or compel (a person, animal, etc.) to work; to exact labour from; to employ or use in work. spec. in N.Z., to use (a dog) for the purpose of herding sheep or cattle. See also 40 i.
1445Cov. Leet Bk. 225 What man that wurchithe ony man of the seide craft in contrarie-wyse he shall forfet..x s. to the Towne walle. 1607Markham Cavel. i. (1617) 50 Many good breeders..will let their Mares after they are quickned be moderately trauelled or wrought. 1707Sloane Jamaica I. p. xvii, Oxen..are reckoned the best meat, if not too much wrought. Ibid. clii, The Slaves are usually so well wrought in the day,..that they do not easily awake. 1798J. Naismith Agric. Clydesdale 123 Some gentlemen have again begun to use oxen for all the purposes of draught. The Right Honourable Lord Douglas always works a few. 1841R. Oastler Fleet Papers I. 267 Whether it was right to work little boys and girls in the mills, longer than from six o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening. 1878E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 48 Fricker..[was] delighted to shew the ‘new chum’ how to work a cattle dog. 1888Times 13 Oct. 7/6 The manner in which the hounds should be worked. 1912Sir G. O. Trevelyan Geo. III & C. Fox I. vii. 243 The occupants of the best-paid places for the most part were not worked at all. 1928P. T. Kenway Pioneering in Poverty Bay viii. 56 It was said of the Highland shepherd in New Zealand, that he would..work his dogs, getting in stray sheep, every day for a month.
b. To bring or get into some condition by labour or exertion.
1628W. Folkingham Panala Med. 72 As Oxen wrought leane, regaine the flesh of young beefes by good pasturage. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. li. 246 He..protested that he would not be accessory to the Destruction of so many Innocents, whom he foresaw, would be wrought and starved to Death. 1834G. Thorburn Resid. Amer. 224 When first I began to handle the hammer,..my hands blistered too; but I wrought the blister down. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xliv, She worked herself to death. 1853― Bleak Ho. xiii, Richard said that he would work his fingers to the bone for Ada. 1908H. Wales Old Allegiance viii. 134, I should think you were working the edge away by this time.
20. To set in action, cause to act; to direct the action of; to exercise (a faculty, etc.); to actuate, operate, manage: with various objects, as a machine or apparatus (passing into ****: cf. 16), an institution or scheme, etc.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 63 The raueshyng to wreken of Eleyne..þei wroughten al hire peyne. c1550Rolland Crt. Venus i. 772 To mend the crime thai will wirk all thair mane. 1591Drayton Harmony Ch., Deborah's Song 59 Her left hand to the naile she put, her right the hammer wrought. c1610in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 15 A smale weight..will growe heavye before it be worked up and worke many wheeles. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 128 Water is raised by a machine,..wrought by an horse. 1791R. Mylne 2nd Rep. Thames Navig. 15 The Power of the Millers in working their Heads of Water. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. xi, The mariners all 'gan work the ropes. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxxi. (ed. 3) 312 The cabinet-makers..combined against it, and the patent has consequently never been worked. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xiii, They are..dead dolls, wooden, worked with wires. 1860Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 1/2 No one believes that every people is capable of working every sort of institutions. 1877Daily News 19 Oct. 5/6 The best way to ‘work’ the elections. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay ix, Always working her money and my own very cautiously. 1922Trevelyan Brit. Hist. 19th Cent. ix. 154 Great noblemen who were also great coalowners, working their own mines. a1923W. P. Ker Tasso in Ess. (1925) I. 339 The best way of working figures on their stage.
b. In fig. or allusive phrases expressing cunning management or manœuvring, as to work the oracle (see oracle n. 1 b), work the ropes, work one's ticket (ticket n.1 6 b).
1859Slang Dict. 117 Work the oracle, to succeed by manœuvering, to concert a wily plan, to victimize. 1884Rider Haggard Dawn xvii, How our mutual friend worked the ropes is more than I can tell you. 1919Athenæum 15 Aug. 759/1 ‘Working one's ticket’ means taking steps, such as feigning insanity or sickness, in order to get discharged from the army.
c. To cause to ferment.
[Cf. quot. 1594 in 12 l.]1764E. Moxon Engl. Housew. (ed. 9) 140 To make Balm Wine... When it is cold put a little new yeast upon it, and beat it in every two hours,..so work it for two days.
II. Intransitive senses.
* To act; to perform work or labour.
21. Of a person: To do something, or to do things generally; to act, esp. in the particular way mentioned; to proceed; to conduct oneself, behave, ‘do’. Obs. or arch., or merged in other senses.
a1000Soul & Body 64 (Gr.) Swa þu worhtest to me. c1200Vices & Virtues 27 Hem ðe on him belieueð and ðar after wercheð. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5819 Wisemen he drou to him, & after hom he wroȝte. 1340–70Alisaunder 517 In battail..bigly too wirch. c1386Chaucer Prol. 497 This noble ensample to his sheepe he yaf That firste he wroghte, and afterward that he taughte. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 7 Þey schulleþ fonge her mede of hym þat rewardeþ..al þat wel worcheþ. c140026 Pol. Poems v. 8 Gostly blynd..Þat leueþ wit, and worchiþ by wille. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 140 Wher God list werche may be noon obstacle. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 340 [He] putte hym self in to the grettest prees of the bataylle wher he wrought mortally. a1529Skelton Dyuers Balettys Wks. (Dyce) I. 24 Aduertysing you..to warke more secretly. 1550Crowley Last Trumpet 1357 If he haue wrought against the lawes. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 63 He, because he could not otherwise speake vnto him, wrought by signes. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. ii. 29 This ha's no holding To sweare by him whom I protest to loue That I will worke against him.
†b. to let work: to allow to act or proceed (let God work = leave the rest to God). Obs.
c1230Hali Meid. (1922) 13 Ne þarf þe bute wilnen, & lete godd wurchen. 14..Sir Beues (Pynson) 3372 Iosyan..trauayled of chylde... She sayde,..‘go hens away,..And late me worke and our lady’. 1546[see A. 1 η].
22. To act for a purpose, or so as to gain an end; to plan, plot; to contrive, manage. arch.
a1000Boeth. Metr. xx. 87 Þæt ðu mid ᵹeþeahte þinum wyrcest þæt ðu þæm ᵹesceaftum swa ᵹesceadlice mearce ᵹesettest. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 417 God..may so for yow wirche, That..Ye may repente of wedded mannes lyf. 1390Gower Conf. I. 63 How he can werche Among tho wyde furred hodes, To geten hem the worldes goodes. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 242 Thai wyrk ay to wayt ws with supprys. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 239 Se how politikely the French kyng wrought for his aduantage. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 311 Without the Kings assent or knowledge, You wrought to be a Legate. a1674Milton Hist. Mosc. v. Wks. 1851 VIII. 511 The Chancellor, with others of the great ones..so wrought, that a Creature of thir own was sent to meet Sir Jerom. 1887Morris Odyssey xii. 445 So wrought the Father of Gods and of men that I was not seen.
23. Of a thing (abstr. or concr.): To do something; to perform a function, or produce an effect; to act, operate, take effect; esp. to act in the desired way, do what is required; to be practicable or effectual, to succeed. See also 33.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3137 Þat fire..wirkes on wonderful manere,..Thurgh wilk þe saule most clensed be In purgatory. a1375Joseph Arim. 49 Louse þi lippes a-twynne & let þe gost worche. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Justin) 593 Þi strinth sal nocht wyrke Agane þe treutht of haly kirke. 1379Glouc. Cath. MS. No. 1. i. iii. lf. 3 b, As the sonne wirkyth in all creaturis her beneathe. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1901 Ther Nature wol nat wirche, Fare wel Phisik; go ber the man to chirche. c1400tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 71 Whanne þe wyt werketh and þe wyl ys trauaylled. 1422Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. 206 Prayer,..out⁓sayd in erthe, worchyth in hevyn. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 376 Thise wordes wroughte in the hertes of the calcedonyens and gaf to them corage. 1526Tindale Rom. viii. 28 All thynges worke for the best [1611 worke together for good] vnto them that love god. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xi. 91 b, Opium..doth so worke with them.., that they loose both their wits and vnderstanding. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii, My plot begins to worke. 1651French Distill. i. 40 This Oil taken inwardly worketh upward and downward. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 507 Nature her self..Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turn'd. 1671― Samson 850 It was not gold..That wrought with me. 1784Twamley Dairying 30 This [salt] will..cause the Rennet to Work quick. 1832Edin. Rev. Oct. 245 How will the Reform Bill work in the return of members to Parliament? 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. vi. 75 The stomach works well and performs its functions with vigour. 1846Trench Mirac. xvi. 262 [He] left the difficulty..to work in the minds of the apostles. 1861Trollope Framley P. xxix, Lady Lufton was beginning to fear that her plan would not work. 1869W. T. Thornton On Labour iv. i. 357 The cases..showing how this arrangement works. 1891Scrivener Fields & Cities 116 This is how private ownership of property works. 1892Mrs. Clifford Aunt Anne I. ii. 40 Walter had tried sending Florence and the children and going down every week himself; but he found ‘it didn't work’.
b. Of a machine or apparatus: To perform its proper function; to act, operate.
Sometimes felt as intr. for pass. from 20. In this and next sense passing into **.
c1610in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 15 Smale modles often fayle..when they cume to worcke upon heavye..weightes. 1702Post Man 21–24 Feb. 2/2 Advt., There is a small Engine, that Raises Water..now set up at the Engine-House..in Dorset Garden, which will Work every Saturday and Wednesday. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 11 Cranes or Skrews, or any other Engine, working either by Leavers or Pullies. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes ii, Telegraphs working; flags hoisted. 1867tr. Clausius' Mech. Theory Heat 198 A machine which works with expansion. 1889Gunter That Frenchman iv. 37 Maurice..closes the door..trying it to be sure the spring lock has worked. 1917Miss M. T. Jackson Museum ii. 67 Like all mechanical devices it [sc. the thermostat] does not always work.
c. Of a part of mechanism: To have its proper action or movement in relation to another part with which it is in contact.
1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 324 [He] besmears..so much of the Cheeks as the ends of the Head works against. Ibid. 366 The square holes the Hose works in. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 130 The four bevelled nuts work into the bevelled wheels..and so turn them. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 172 An index working over a scale.
d. to work like a charm: see charm n.1 1 c.
24. To do something involving effort (of body or mind); to exert oneself (physically or mentally) for a definite purpose, esp. in order to produce something or effect some useful result, to gain one's livelihood or some profit or advantage, or under compulsion; to do work, perform a task or tasks, to toil: = labour v. 11. (Opposed to play v. 10, or to rest v.1 2.)
to work like a beaver, horse, nigger : see these words. Similarly to work like a dog, to work one's tail off. to work double tides: see tide n. 14.
c888ælfred Boeth. xli. §3 Hwy sceall þonne æniᵹ mon bion idel, ðæt he ne wyrce? c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 28 Ga and wyrce to-dæᵹ on minum winᵹearde. a1225Ancr. R. 44 Lokeð..þet ȝe ne beon neuer idel: auch wurcheð, oðer redeð, oðer beoð i beoden. c1275Lay. 8710–11 Þare wrohte þeines, þare wrohte sweines, and þe king mid his honde. a1300Cursor M. 6843 Sex dais sal yee wirc,..And yee sal rest þe seuend dai. 13..Sir Beues (A.) 58 Me lord is olde & may nouȝt werche. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 525 Þay wente in to þe vyne & wroȝte. c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 14 Wel oghte vs werche, and ydelnesse withstonde. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 342 Poul..wrouȝte with hise hondis forto haue his lijflode to preche. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 880 A woman which..sabbot-day dyd violate Vn⁓laufully wurkynge. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 72 b, We must worke and labour in goostly exercyse certayn dayes. 1546J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 36 As good play for nought as woorke for nought. c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 50 Our men wrought dalie to hoyse aborde all such goodes. 1620Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 784/1 At such one of the saidis mynes as they sall have last wrought into. 1621T. Granger Expos. Eccles. xii. i. 315 We must worke with the Oare while we haue strength, and after sit at the sterne. a1633G. Herbert Jacula Prudentum 178 Thinke of ease, but worke on. 1851Kingsley Three Fishers, For men must work, and women must weep. 1861Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. clxiii. 180 To have taxed his paper, or his ink, or the rush-lights that he wrought by. 1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olive i. 40 Our third condition of separation, between the men who work with the hand, and those who work with the head. 1926[see perish v. 1 e]. 1969, etc. [see tail n.1 5 a]. 1976–7Sea Spray (N.Z.) Dec./Jan. 95/2 These lads have worked like dogs all winter.
b. const. at, on or upon, † rarely in, of (a material object, esp. in making (cf. 14), a subject of study or literary treatment, an occupation, etc.).
1154O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137 Martin abbot..wrohte on þe circe. c1200Ormin 16283 Swa þeȝȝ stodenn..To wirrkenn o þe temmple. 1375in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 137/1 [Solomon] þeron..Dede worchen foure & twenty ᵹere. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 324 Certeyn Shipwryghtes that wrought of the seid Ship. 1569Aldeburgh Rec. in N. & Q. 12th Ser. VII. 184/1 Pd to Rodger coke and his man for workynge in the seatts at Churche. 1612J. Davies (Heref.) Muse's Sacrifice Wks. (Grosart) II. 6/2 That proud Pyramed..Whereon, three-hundred-three-score-thousand wrought full twenty Yeeres. 1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref., A sentence of Hesiod so commendable, that..Livie in that [Oration] of Minutius hath it well and diversly wrought-on. 1687Prior Hind & P. Transv. Wks. 1907 II. 15 Vulcan working at the Anvil. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 205 Some Basons have been worked upon several times, without being able almost to make them hold Water. 1840G. Godwin Last Day i. 5 How hard some folks do work at what they call pleasure. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xviii, The little [church-] porch, where a monotonous ringer was working at the bell. 1893Liddon, etc. Pusey I. v. 96 Pusey..spent from fourteen to sixteen hours a day working at Arabic. a1923W. P. Ker Tasso in Ess. (1925) I. 342 Tasso had been working at his epic poem.
(b) In humorous or trivial use, implying vigorous action of some kind.
1840Thackeray Barber Cox Feb., The Duchess and the great ladies were all seated,..working away at the ices and macaroons.
25. To exert oneself in order to accomplish something or gain some end (expressed by context); to strive: = labour v. 12.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1470 He wrogten and figt, Queðer here sulde birðen bi-foren. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 352 He is frend to þe frere þat hatiþ þus his synne & worchiþ to distrie it. 1483Cath. Angl. 420 To Wyrke, aporiare & -ri, anxiari, conari, cooperari, conniti. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 27 Your Honors shall perceiue how I will worke, To bring this matter to the wished end. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxxiv, Such a deed might make one forswear kin, clan, country, wife, and bairns! And yet the villain wrought long for it. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. V. lviii. 230 He was a refugee in England during the regency of Morton, who wrought hard to lay hands on him. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xvii, That guilty and intriguing minister of Tiberius..had for years worked on with the deliberate intention of clearing every one of them from his path, and climbing to that throne himself.
26. To do one's ordinary business; to pursue a regular occupation; to be regularly engaged or employed in some labour, trade, profession, etc. (in a place, for or under a master or superior). Said also of animals. Also more widely, to do something for a definite end, to engage in some systematic occupation. (Often coinciding with 24.) to work out of, to use it as a base, office, etc., for work; to (a person), to be responsible to as one's immediate superior or supervisor.
1307York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 181 Boclemakers..to serve and to wyrk to pouer and to riche within this cite. a1400Isumbras 398 ‘For mete’, he sayde, ‘I wold wyrke fayne.’ c1450J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. xii. 17 Be-neth þat hous..was housyng be þe ground, in whech dwelt coynoures of siluyr, and wroute þere ful bisily. 1552–3in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 130 Taylours woorking by greate or taske woork. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 10 Rude Mechanicals, That worke for bread vpon Athenian stals. 1612S. Rid Art of Jugling C 4, The..matters wherevpon Iuglers worke vpon, and shew their feates. 1676Marvell Mr. Smirke I 4 b, Did not St. Paul himself, being a Tent⁓maker,..work of his trade.. to get his living? 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3809/8 He [sc. a glover] wought in Colemans⁓alley. 1704De Foe Giving Alms no Charity (1859) 58 'Tis the men that wont work, not the men that can get no work, which makes the numbers of our poor. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. III. 326 He wrought for some days in the habit of a peasant, cutting faggots in a wood. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. ii. (1858) 35 The farmers for whom he wrought. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xi, He's one of the Company you work under. 1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 34 Ants work not only all day, but in warm weather often all night too. 1883Swinburne Misc. (1886) 117 It was not the aim of Wordsworth to work on the same lines, to rule in the same province as do these. 1898‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner iv. 40 It is he who has made the discovery upon which we are working. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 300 She's turned pro... She's working out of Gladys'. 1961B. Fergusson Watery Maze xiv. 360 The Forward Officer (Bombardment) working to H.M.S. Roberts was killed with his signaller. 1972Where Sept. 263/1 Registration officers work to the Registrar General. 1975I. Murdoch Word Child 6, I worked to a man called Duncan, now briefly seconded to the Home Office. 1976M. Delving China Expert i. 12 He had no shop but worked out of the small, comfortable house he had bought. 1979P. Cosgrave Three Colonels viii. 174 They had all worked either to Davies..or Morgan... None had come in contact with the head of the department.
b. const. in († with) the material upon which labour is expended in some business or manufacture.
1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 54 Than Iupiter began to lerne spynne and to werke in the silke. 1474― Chesse iii. iii. (1883) 93 Thise..ben named drapers..for so moche as they werke wyth wolle. 1538Elyot Dict., Plasma, the warke of a potter, or of hym that worketh in erthe. 1539Bible (Great) Isa. xix. 9 They that worke in flaxe. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vi. 223 The veine of Tinne..is..rough and very painfull to worke in. 1759R. Smith Harmonics (ed. 2) 176 Any man who works true in brass may easily apply it [sc. this mechanism]..to any harpsichord ready made. 1869Boutell Arms & Armour ii. 38 The Greeks of that age..were able to temper it [sc. iron], and they had actually commenced working in it.
c. spec. of sporting dogs. (Cf. 12 g.)
1832[see working vbl. n. 1]. 1874Kennel Club Stud Bk. 165 Bruce and Rob Roy..both worked in good style. 1874Carpenter Mental Phys. i. ii. §3. (1879) 104 Young Pointers and Retrievers, when first taken into the field, will often ‘work’ as well as if they had been long well trained.
27. To perform the work proper or incidental to one's business or avocation; to operate or practise in a professional way. Obs. exc. in general sense.
1340Ayenb. 174 Þe leche ne may naȝt werche mid þe zike bote-yef he yzi his wonde. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 45 Wiþ som men it is to wirche wiþ cauteries. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 233 Iupiter..wrought in his science and made his charmes. a1500in Arnolde Chron. 63 b/2 Wan y⊇ mone is..in cankro Leone or Libra it is good [to] wurch in trees that bethe newe sprongen.
b. Said esp. of the performance of artistic work or the practice of an artist. † worked upon, † worked about: decorated or ornamented, e.g. with embroidery, engraving, or the like; also fig. worked over: having the surface remodelled or redecorated.
1539Bible (Great) Ps. xlv. 10 A vesture of gold (wrought about with dyuerse colours). a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. xxii. (1912) 291 Her apparrell of white, wrought upon with broken knots. 1607Shakes. Timon i. i. 200 How lik'st thou this picture?.. Wrought he not well that painted it? 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 102 Exercising his scholars..in the necessary rudiments..before he would suffer them..to worke in colours. 1706tr. De Piles' Art Painting 336 He work'd also in Sculpture. 1733Sch. Miniature 42 When you work after Prints. 1786Strutt Biogr. Dict. Engravers II. 422 This artist worked with the graver only. 1874J. H. Pollen Anc. & Mod. Furniture S. Kens. Mus. 131 The work is profusely gilt and worked over with tooling. 1875Fortnum Maiolica iv. 39 He worked about 1550. 1883T. Westwood & Satchell Bibl. Piscat. 219 The scroll has..been ‘worked over’, much to its detriment. 1889R. Beydall Art in Scot. vii. 125 The students wrought in the academy daily at painting.
fig.1875Whitney Life Lang. iii. 39 For a long time there has existed..a tendency to work over such verbs, abandoning their irregularly varying inflection, and reducing them to accordance with the more numerous class of the ‘regularly’ inflected.
c. slang. (See quot. 1839.) Cf. sense 12 i (e) above.
1839H. Brandon in W. A. Miles Poverty, Mendicity & Crime 166/1 Work, to rob, or act in any way according to the divers occupations of thieves, &c. 1882Sydney Slang Dict. 10/2 We went to the gaff that night and tried to work. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 70 Some Americans [sc. pickpockets]..are front workers..; that is, they can and do work facing the victim. 1963T. Tullett Inside Interpol x. 150 Huffman ‘worked’ for a short time in Rome, where he defrauded several shopkeepers.
d. to work to rule: to follow the rules of one's occupational duties punctiliously in order to reduce efficiency, usu. as a form of protest in an industrial dispute. So work-to-rule attrib. phr.; also as n. Similarly, in the professions, work-to-contract.
[1940Ann. Reg. 1939 310 A ‘ca' canny’ movement—called ‘work to rules’—among the [railway] employees. ]1950Ann. Reg. 1949 40 The delegates replied by ordering a general work-to-rule 44-hour week..unless claims were settled. 1952News Chron. 13 Mar. 5/7 That conductor was working to rule... All passengers must be seated before moving off; no overtaking of other buses; and no efforts to make up lost time. 1958Times 4 Aug. 6/4 A report that prison officers..were working to rule in protest against the report..that prisoners there had been assaulted. 1959Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 1/5 The work-to-rule and shut-down were expected to be carried out in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and other provincial cities. 1960Guardian 13 June 1/6 A ‘work-to-rule’ plan instituted by members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union after pay negotiations..had broken down. 1962Spectator 26 Jan. 96 What about lesser sanctions—go-slows, work-to-rules and overtime bans? 1967R. Whitehead in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 69 The system would fail even more often if the staff stuck rigidly to the rules. We see the results when they ‘work to rule’, as it is. 1969Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 23/3 Members of the London Schoolmasters' Association will ‘work to contract’ next term because of the two weeks’ suspension without pay earlier in the year of 22 teachers. 1972‘M. Sinclair’ Norslag x. 82 A work-to-rule among ground staff had led to some flights being delayed. 1975Times 13 Jan. 15/1 Instead of wholesale industrial action by most of the [medical] profession, we are left with the consultants and their ‘work-to-contract’.
28. Math., etc. To proceed (in a particular way) in calculation; to perform a calculation; to go through the process of solving a problem.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §5 Whan þat the degree of thy sonne falleth by-twixe two Almykanteras.., thow Most werken in this wise. c1425Crafte Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 23 Here he teches how þou schalt wyrch in þis craft. Þou schalt multiplye þe last figure [etc.]. 1610A. Hopton Baculum Geodæticum 35 For the distance of sides of Triangles, worke thus. 1614Handson tr. Barth. Pitisco's Trigonom. ii. 20 If you worke by the table of latitudes..the difference of longitude will be 68 deg. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 62 You must work as if the Piece were fortified no more than only so much as the thinnest part of the Metal is. 1766Complete Farmer s.v. Surveying 7 G 2/1 If instead of squaring the half feet, you square the half yards.., and work with them, you will attain the same end without any regardable difference. 1823J. Guy Tutor's Assist. 79 Work for the tare and trett as before.
29. Of a substance (corresp. to various senses in 12); usually with qualifying adv. or phr.: To behave in a particular way while being worked. See also 39 d.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon vi. 136 Whan the yron is well hoote, hit werketh the better. 1662Gerbier Princ. 24 Portland Stone works well. 1676J. Smith Art of Painting ii. 16 Vermillion... If it be ground fine..no Colour works better. 1764Museum Rust. III. xlviii. 205 Whilst in the quarry, it works better than after it has been exposed to the sun. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 732 Yellow ochre..is..much used [sc. in painting], as it works very freely. 1877Paper hanger etc. 68 Distemper mixed with jellied size will lay on better..than when the size is used hot. Colour mixed on the former plan works cool and floats nicely, while the latter works dry, and drags and gathers.
30. With on or upon († into, † of, † to, with arch.): To operate upon, produce an effect upon, take effect on, affect, influence:
a. physically or generally.
1375Barbour Bruce iv. 700 Of the hevyn..How that the disposicioune Suld apon thingis virk heir doune. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 219 He toke poison..but..it would not worke vpon hym. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) iii. 55 As for a weddow, wirk weill on hir wame, I knaw no craft sall cause hir lufe ȝow bettir. 1587Golding De Mornay xvii. 314 This fault cannot bee imputed to the body..: neither can it be imputed to any infection receiued first from the body; for the Soule could not be wrought into by the body. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 188, I know my Physicke will worke with him. 1627Hakewill Apol. iv. xiv. §5 (1630) 514 The same [sun-] beams exhale both stinking vapours out of the dunghills and sweete savours out of flowres, the beame is every way the same which workes vpon them, only the difference of the subjects..is it that..diversifies the effects. 1730W. Burdon Gentl. Pocket-Farrier 75 When a Purge works..too strong upon him..give him an Ounce of Venice Treacle. 1847Tennyson Princess iv. 137 Cyril, with whom the bell-mouth'd glass had wrought,..began To troll a..tavern-catch.
b. mentally or morally; sometimes, to do something in order to affect, strive to influence (with to = labour v. 13); sometimes, to influence successfully, prevail upon, induce, persuade: = 14 a. (Often in indirect passive.)
1616W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. ii. 737 Which wrought so on the Swains, they could not smother Their sighes. 1632Lithgow Trav. iv. 140 Sir Thomas..seriously wrought with the Grand Signior and his Counsell, to haue had him restored againe to his Lands. 1647in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 435 Shee cries and tackes on..but all we can doo will not worke of her. 1662Atwell Faithf. Surveyor 4 He works to the Lady [owner] to send another to measure it [sc. the farm]... He prevails with her, she sends another. 1669Pepys Diary 10 May (1879) VI. 79 The King may yet be wrought upon..to bring changes in our Office. a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 339 But he would not be wrought on. 1799Washington Let. Writ. 1893 XIV. 184 He was not to be worked upon by Intriguers. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxviii, Sweetest Lady, work with thy child, that he will pardon all past sins. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 72 She..worked on his feelings by pretending to be ill. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xiii. 266 He had many minds to work upon and to win over to his cause.
31. To ache, hurt: = wark v. Obs. exc. dial.
a1400Morte Arth. 2688 Thoffe my schouldire be schrede,..And the wielde of myne arme werkkes a littille. a1400–50Wars Alex. 531 Sa sare werkis hire þe wame..Þat all scho dredis hire dede. c1400Rom. Rose 1814, I felte such wo, my wounde ay wrought. 1470–85Malory Arthur xxi. v. 848, I may not stonde, myn hede werches soo. 1808Jamieson, To werk, to ache.
32. Of liquor: To ferment.
1570Timme tr. Marlorat's Expos. Matt. ix. 17 When the newe wyne worketh or spourgeth, the vessels breake. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. 183 b, The Hony is..suffered to stand vncouered a fewe dayes tyll it haue wrought, and cast vp a loft all his drags. 1673Phil. Trans. VIII. 6021 About 7 or 8 dayes after the Must hath been thus boyled it begins to work. 1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 57 The tubs wherein the Wine is working. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (1862) ii. §5. 129 The liquid becomes turbid, and small bubbles rise to the surface; or in popular language, it begins to work or to ferment.
fig.16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. (Arb.) 9 Such barmy heads wil alwaies be working. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxxiv, Men's brains are working like yeast.
** To move in a particular way or direction.
33. To go or move along, or in a particular course; to make one's (or its) way, take one's (or its) course; now usually, to make way slowly, laboriously, with some exertion or difficulty, or in an indirect course. (Usually with adv. or phr. expressing the direction or course: see also 36 b, 38 b, 40 c.)
c1400Treat. Astron. 3 (MS. Add. Bodl. B. 17), Therbe...vij. planetis that meuyn and werkyn in the .vij. heuenes. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. ii. (1883) 87 Fortune hath of no thinge so grete playsir as for to torne & werke all way. 1535Coverdale Jonah i. 13 The see wrought [Luther fuhr, Vulg. ivit, LXX. ἐπορεύετο] so, & was so troublous agaynst them. 1697Dryden æneis v. 891 The raging Fires..lurking in the Seams,..Work on their way, amid the smouldring Tow. 1802Colman Broad Grins, Elder Bro. (1819) 118 Being Bacchi plenus,—full of wine,—..He work'd, with sinuosities, along. 1848Dickens Dombey l, [The dog] worked round and round him, as if..undecided at what particular point to go in for the assault. 1862Pycroft Cricket Tutor 57 A ball working away only a little way to the leg. 1878A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam i. 2 After midnight..the wind worked gradually round..and blew directly in our teeth. 1898G. A. B. Dewar In Pursuit Trout 26 The trout was working up stream, always keeping under the bank. 1912Times 19 Oct. 7/3 The Russians..worked round to the rear of the Turkish army.
b. To make one's (or its) way slowly or with effort through something, as in penetrating gradually through a substance, burrowing in the ground, etc.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxix. 132 So lang sall þis fox wirk in þe erthe þat at þe last he schall comme oute amang þis folk. c1400Destr. Troy 12007 All the cite..þai set vppon fyre,..Wroght vnder walles, walt hom to ground. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 47 Sum says it is a mater that wirkes out of the stanes. 1691in Archaeologia XII. 189 Sometimes the coneys work under the wall into the garden. 1766Complete Farmer s.v. Walk 7 Z 3/2 The bottom of the walks should be laid with rubbish, coarse gravel, &c.,..and beaten down close, to prevent the worms from working through it.
c. Naut. Of a sailing vessel: To sail in a particular course, to make sail; esp. to beat to windward, to tack. See also 40 c.
1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xii. 204 The shipping..had direction to worke about to another Creake. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4054/1 Perceiving..that they wrought from us, we followed them..with all the Sail we could make. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 223 She had sprung her fore-top-mast, which had disabled her from working to windward. 1768Phil. Trans. LX. 116 A little before noon we weighed, and worked up the river. 1823Scoresby Jrnl. 2 We reached down the river, and, on the ebb, worked out of the Rock Channel. 1836Marryat Pirate xvi, The Comus..worked, in short tacks, outside the reef. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiii. (1856) 184 We are working, i.e., beating our way in the narrow leads..between the main ice and the drift.
d. To proceed in a particular direction in some operation.
1877Paper Hanger, etc. 26 The paper hanger generally works from left to right. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Working home, working toward the main shaft in extracting ore or coal. 1910F. Fawcett in Folk-Lore (1912) XXIII. 39 He is given several sharp blows on the ribs, beginning under the armpit and working downwards.
e. transf. and fig. in various connexions. See also 40 c.
1691T. Tryon Art Brewing (ed. 3) 49 So soon as it [your Corn] begins to come, or as some calls it Work. 1848Lytton Harold ix. iii, A silent war between the two for mastery was working on. 1857Mrs. Gaskell C. Brontë I. ii. 27 Their religion did not work down into their lives. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. ix, Hoping as Our Johnny would work round [= recover]. 1883Sidgwick Fallacies ii. vi. 205 Hence..the name [sc. demonstration] often works round again, in popular usage, to mean proof which is ‘sufficiently’ or ‘practically’ conclusive. 1895P. Hemingway Out of Egypt ii. 158 A new conversation starts up every hour, and debateable points acquire a fresh interest because there is never time to work to a conclusion.
34. To move restlessly, violently, or convulsively; to be in a state of agitation or commotion; to toss, seethe, rage (as a stormy sea, etc.); to struggle; to twitch; Naut. of a ship, to strain or ‘labour’ so that the fastenings become slack (cf. 35); so of an engine or carriage (see quots. 1793, 1892 s.v. working vbl. n. 10 a). Also fig. of thought or feeling; sometimes with allusion to 32.
1581,1582[see working vbl. n. 10, ppl. a. 4]. 1608Shakes. Per. iii. i. 48 The sea workes hie. 1652J. Taylor (Water P.) Relat. Journ. Wales (1859) 11 The well..doth continually work and bubble with extream violence. 1689H. Pitman Relat. in Arb. Garner VII. 351 Our little vessel..wrought so exceedingly by reason of the great motion of the sea, that we could not possibly make her tight. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776) s.v., A ship is..said to work, when she strains and labours heavily in a tempestuous sea, so as to loosen her joints or timbers. 1770Wesley Jrnl. 4 July, She..wrought, like one strangled, in her breast and throat. 1815Jane Austen Emma i. xiii, With men he can be..unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lviii, Shaking his head, and working with both his hands as if he were clearing away ten thousand cobwebs. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xi. 25 While everything was working, and cracking, strained to the utmost. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped 5 With his face all working with sorrow.
fig.1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 215 While thoughts like these were working in the minds of many Dissenters. 1859Tennyson Elaine 1300 Sea was her wrath, yet working after storm. 1865C. Stanford Symb. Christ vi. (1878) 161 Tempests of feeling often work beneath an unchanged face.
35. With complement: To move irregularly or unsteadily so as to become out of gear.
1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 325 [To] hinder the Press from working into a twisting position. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxv. 83 The anchor on the lee bow had worked loose, and was thumping the side. 1874J. D. Heath Croquet-player 26 If the handle [of the mallet] be properly wedged into the head, it ought never to work loose.
III. With adverbs, in special senses.
36. work in.
a. trans. To insert, introduce, incorporate (in various connexions: see 9, 12 d).
1675A. Browne App. Art Paint. 11 Working in, driving, and sweetening the same Colours one into another. 1728E. Smith Compl. Housew. (ed. 2) 129 Work in three quarters of a pound of Sugar. 1826M. Crosfield in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. XX. 93 The 5 American Epistles..abound with choice passages of Scripture well wrought in. 1847Helps Friends in C. i. viii. 124, I would try and work in the old good thing with the new. 1870Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) II. App. 584 A..tale in which several particulars..are worked in with a lofty contempt for chronology.
b. intr. To make one's (or its) way in. lit. and fig. See 33.
1748Anson's Voy. ii. i. 116 These..sudden gusts make it difficult for ships to work in with the wind off shore. 1849Helps Friends in C. ii. i. 12 All he meets seems to work in with, and assimilate itself to, his own peculiar subject. 1918Westm. Gaz. 29 Apr. 5/4 Yorkshire troops..threw the enemy out of the village..but the enemy again worked in.
c. To co-operate or get along with.
1915E. Fenwick Diary 14 Oct. in Elsie Fenwick in Flanders (1981) 89, I had tried so hard to work in with her. 1960M. Spark Ballad Peckham Rye viii. 181 If Mr. Druce thought I was working in with you, he'd kill me. 1974O. Manning Rain Forest i. ix. 101, I am a very fast learner, and I work in well with Mr. Axelrod.
37. work off.
* a. trans. To print off (as from a plate); esp. to print in final form, so as to be ready for publication or distribution.
1662Evelyn Sculptura 36 The very first..who published any works of this kind under their names, wrought off by the Rolling-Presse. 1672Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 247 Wee were then looking over and correcting the story of John Wycleve in ‘Hist. et Antiq. Univ. Oxon.’ before it was to be wrought off from the press. a1704T. Brown Laconics Wks. 1711 IV. 7 That..execrable Dog of a Printer..has work'd off the last Sheet..without sending me a Proof. 1708T. Hearne Coll. 11 Apr. (O.H.S.) II. 102 Mr. Thorpe gave but 10 pence per hundred for working off his Plates to Schutzer. 1754Gentl. Mag. XXIV. 58/1 An accident..to the Plate prevented a sufficient number [of etchings] from being wrought off. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh II. Introd. p. lxxxi, By an accident of a miscarriage of proofs in the Post Office, the three letters..were worked off, prior to correction of the press. 1882C. Pebody Engl. Journalism xv. (1883) 107 The printers..often found themselves working off papers half through the night and all through the day.
†b. To make and throw off. Obs.
1695–6Act 7 & 8 Will. III, c. 20 §3 A..profitable Invention..for the..more speedy..knitting of..Stockings..whereby great Quantities are wrought off in a little tyme. 1739W. Melmoth Fitzosb. Lett. lxii. (1749) II. 118, I am willing enough to join with you in thinking, that [the souls of both sexes] may be wrought off from different models.
c. To get rid of, palm off, pass off; to perpetrate, ‘play off’. Occas. refl.
1813M. L. Weems Wks. & Ways (1929) III. 92 The Maps..may be work[ed] off and in time to give you bank interest. 1884Kipling Let. 21 Nov. in C. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) iv. 58 I've been writing a story... I'm trying to work it off on some alien paper to get myself pice thereby. 1891N. Gould Double Event xvi, A nice little swindle you worked off on me that time. 1897‘O. Thanet’ Missionary Sheriff 7 The lightning-rods ain't in it with this last scheme—working his self off as a Methodist parson. 1900‘Mark Twain’ Speeches (1910) 164 He had not written as many plays as I have, but he has had that God-given talent, which I lack, of working them off on the manager. 1948V. Palmer Golconda viii. 58 Corney had been skiting about his claim for months, and everyone knew it was a duffer, but he hung on in the hope of working it off on someone.
** d. To take off or away by a gradual process, effect a riddance of; to get rid of, disburden oneself of, free oneself from, by some continuous action or effort.
1678Rymer Trag. Last Age 83 This Scene having wrought off the Remains of Phedra's frenzy, in the next she seems more calm. 1702A. De la Pryme Let. 27 Mar. in Diary (Surtees) 251 Returning to his labour,..he sweat and wrought it [sc. canine madness] of [= off] without any physic. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 216 Nature is working off some latent Enemy. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxv, You..take some of his quack medicine, and then he will allow you a run on shore to work it off. 1873Symonds Gk. Poets vii. 194 Should a man arise capable of seeing rightly and living purely, he may work off the curse. 1880Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Rebel of Family x, So full of thoughts and energies she does not know how to work them all off.
†e. To draw off or dissuade (a person) from a certain course. Cf. 14 a. Obs.
1655Stanley Hist. Philos. i. iii. xvi. (1687) 94/1 Glauco before he was 20. years old had..aimed at some great office in the Common-wealth, not to be wrought off from this fancy..untill addrest by some friends to Socrates, who made him acknowledge his own error.
† f. To take or tear off by continuous application of force. Obs.
1703Parker Eusebius viii. 146 When the Flesh of her Sides and Breasts had been wrought off with Pincers, she was Sentenc'd to the Sea.
g. To finish working at; to dispose of and get done with.
1800J. Haigh Dyer's Assist. 33 When a vat has been heated two or three times, and a good part has been worked off. 1892W. S. Gilbert Mountebanks i, Giuseppe, he's to be married tomorrow,..and so on until we are all worked off. 1920Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 4/2 When the existing contracts for new steamships are worked off.
h. To put to death; to hang. slang.
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lxiii, He was ready for working off.
38. work out.
* a. trans. To bring, fetch, or get out by some process or course of action; to get rid of, or effect a riddance of; to expel, deliver, efface, etc. Also refl.
1595Daniel Civ. Wars v. lxxi, These people-minions they must fall To worke out vs, to worke themselues int' all. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxii. §10 That..you may worke out the knots and Stondes of the mind. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 226 If the Fox be in the earth,..they take this course to worke him out. 1648Gage West Ind. 2 Such plenary Indulgences, which may..work that soul out, which lyeth..in the deepest pit of Purgatory. 1660Dryden Astræa Redux 275 Tears of Joy..Work out and expiate our former Guilt. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues p. x, Strong Bodies will work out the Poyson they take, by degrees. 1758Hist. in Ann. Reg. 3/2 To work out the old servants of the Crown, in order to make way for a more uniform system. 1874Willshire Anc. Prints iii. 91 The engraver of metal plates has not rested satisfied with the chafing-tool, [etc.]..in working out their substance, but has had recourse to corrosives..to bite..away the metal. 1906Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. I. 37 We might properly say that the ‘uncompleted emotion’..could be given an opportunity to work itself out.
b. intr. To make its way out, esp. from being imbedded or inclosed in something; to become gradually loose and come out: cf. 33, 35.
In quot. 1698, to lose its effect gradually.
1601Holland Pliny xxx. xiii. II. 394 To draw forth spils of bones, and make them to worke out. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ii. ⁋1 Underlays..are often apt to work out, and..subject it to an unstable and loose position. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 127 The Liquor working out by his Walking, he began to grow weary. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 151 Forelock, a small wedge of iron driven through a hole near the end of iron pins to keep them from working out. 1832Marryat N. Forster iii, Fresh splinters of the bone continually worked out.
c. trans. To work (a mine, etc.) until it yields no more; to exhaust by ‘working’.
1545in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 8 [The parties shall cause all such coalpits as shall hereafter be] clenewrought out and gettyn [to be] caste in and stopped. 1827Scott Chron. Canongate vii, The Highlands were indeed a rich mine; but they have, I think, been fairly wrought out. 1857Westgarth Victoria & Gold Mines 226 The diggings, the greater part of which..had been abandoned as ground ‘worked out,’ to use the digger's phrase. 1906Hockaday in Vict. County Hist., Cornwall I. 520/1 As one part [of the rock] was worked out it was filled in with rubble from the new excavations.
d. To wear out, esp. by labour, or by continued application of force. Obs. or rare.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Ouvrer, Le temps ouvre. Time workes (or weares) out euerie thing. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, During what long thankless nights had she worked out her fingers for little Georgy.
e. To discharge (a debt or obligation) by labour instead of a money payment.
1670Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 354 Who cannot pay his 5 s{ddd}shall worke it out in the House of Correction. 1773Pennsylv. Gaz. 28 Apr. 3/2 Whereas I..am indebted {pstlg}28:7:6,..I am desirous to engage and work it out. 1828Kennedy & Grainger Tenancy of Land 297 The highway-tax is most frequently worked out. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xiv, Mind you're here, my lad, to work it out.
** f. To bring about, effect, produce, or procure (a result) by labour or effort; to carry out, accomplish (a plan or purpose).
In quot. 1597, to preserve to the end.
1534Tindale Phil. ii. 12 Worke out youre awne saluacion with feare and tremblynge. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 182 We..Knew that we ventur'd on such dangerous Seas, That if we wrought out life, was ten to one. 1621T. Granger Expos. Eccles. vi. ii. 148 Doth he not most often by his wit worke out his woe? and by his strength procure his owne ruine? 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts Hosea x. 11, Hee loves to injoy blessings, but not to earne, and worke them out. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 225 To go about to work out true peace by..compliances with men, is an endlesse work. 1805Wordsw. Waggoner iv. 118 When the malicious Fates are bent On working out an ill intent. 1847Tennyson Princess ii. 75 O lift your natures up:..work out your freedom. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 141 The natural tendency of their mode of life..worked itself out as time went on. 1874Green Short Hist. ii. §7. 95 The fortunes of England were being slowly wrought out in every incident.
g. To go through a process of calculation or consideration so as to arrive at the solution of (a problem or question), to solve; also, to reckon out, calculate. Cf. 13.
1848Dickens Dombey xix, Day after day, Old Sol and Captain Cuttle kept her reckoning..and worked out her course, with the chart spread before them. 1849C. Brontë Shirley vi, While she completed the exercise, or worked out the sum (for Mdlle. Moore taught her arithmetic, too). 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xviii, She tried to work out the question in her own mind, whether her eagerness for classical learning was a wrong sort of ambition. 1891Speaker 2 May 533/1 A practised novel-reader could probably work out the problem and complete the plot.
h. intr. for pass.: (a) of a course of events, narrative, etc.: To proceed so as to issue in a particular result; (b) with at, of a quantity: To amount to (so much) when reckoned up, to ‘come to’.
1885Ld. Coleridge in Law Rep. 14 Q. Bench Div. 826 The justice of that course, and how it works out is shewn..by the late Lord Chief Justice. 1887Spectator 3 Sept. 1173 It is..impossible to tell..how the situation in Ireland will work out. 1898Tit-Bits 16 July 311/3 This [quantity of tea] when infused works out at about 4,000,000 gallons.
i. trans. To fashion by cutting out, excavation, or the like. ? Obs.
1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 68 When I had wrought out some Boards.., I made large Shelves. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 100 The old one then, with as much assiduity as it before worked out its hole, now closes the mouth of the passage.
j. To bring to a fuller or finished state; to produce or express in a complete form or in detail; to develop, elaborate.
1821Scott Kenilw. xvii, To see how Marlow, Shakspeare, and other play artificers, work out their fanciful plots. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for Nothing xxxix, A picture..worked out with a skill and knowledge of light and shade. 1865J. Fergusson Hist. Archit. ii. i. ii. I. 380 [Italy] did not work out the Basilican type for herself. 1880McCarthy Own Times IV. lxvii. 518 The theory [of the survival of the fittest]..was worked out with the most minute and elaborate care. 1882Besant All Sorts xxviii, An idea..which..works itself out in his brain. 1895F. Harrison in 19th Cent. Aug. 217 This important and far-reaching truth is worked out by Mr. Mallock with much acuteness.
k. To study or investigate completely; to work through. Obs. or rare.
1830H. N. Coleridge Grk. Poets (1846) 10 After a boy has worked out a book or given portion of a classic poem.
*** l. Pugilism. intr. To box for practice, as distinguished from engaging in a set contest. Also gen. to practise, take exercise, rehearse.
1927Daily Express 27 May 13/7, I saw Barber work out in the gymnasium..boxing four rounds with Young Johnny Brown. 1929Cosmopolitan Aug. 72/2 Feet's feet take up so much room when he is on the floor that only two other dancers can work out at the same time. 1948G. Vidal City & Pillar ii. ix. 264 Jim worked out in the YMCA. 1965C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land viii. 221 I'd go up to the gym and work out for a little while, and I wasn't tired any more. 1973R. L. Simon Big Fix (1974) xv. 110, I sat..watching the members of the Teatro Comunal work out. 1980J. Ball Then came Violence xiv. 117 He belonged to a health club where he worked out regularly. 1984Daily Tel. 30 Apr. 15/7 He does not look his 59 years. Perhaps it helps that he had his face lifted twice, works out with weights and had synthetic implants in his jaw.
39. work over. slang. To beat up, thrash (a person).
1927Dialect Notes V. 467 Work one over, to resort to violence in the third degree inquisition of the police. 1934D. Hammett Thin Man viii. 37 Morelli's face was a mess: the coppers had worked him over a little just for the fun of it. 1947Partisan Rev. XIV. 329 The crooked cop can't look at Marlowe without a self-revealing yen to ‘work him over’. 1970Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 1/1 An engineer was followed into a sub-station by two men who threatened to ‘work him over’. 1978R. Perry Dutch Courage ii. 23 Alan held me and Bernard worked me over.
40. work up.
* †a. trans. To build up, construct, ‘raise’ (a wall, etc.): usually with special reference to the actual process. Cf. 3 c. Obs.
Occas. to build up material around (quot. 1712).
c1400Destr. Troy 1542 The walles [were] vp wroght, wonder to se. c1435Torr. Portugale 1532 The Giaunt wrought vp his wall And laid stonys gret and small. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 259 In working up the Walls of a Building, do not work any Wall above 3 foot high before you work up the next adjoining Wall. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 119 Set this Pole very upright,..and work up the Foot of it with Rubble.., for fear its own Weight, or the Wind, should throw it down. 1735J. Price Stone-Br. Thames 8 Strong Cross-Walls..must be work'd up to the Top of the Crown of the Arches.
†b. To lift or raise (a weight) by labour; to hoist. Obs. rare.
c1610[see 20].
c. intr. To make one's (or its) way up, esp. against impediment or indirectly; to ascend, advance; also fig. Cf. 33, 33 c, 33 e.
1667Milton P.L. v. 478 Till body up to spirit work. 1790Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. II. 194 He ordered the Queenborough ahead to observe their motions, and continued endeavouring to work up after them. 1865Kingsley Herew. xxvi, Nearer and louder came the oar-roll, like thunder working up from the east. 1882Daily Tel. 28 Oct. 2/4 The Torridge is in full flood, and plenty of salmon are working up to spawn. 1899Kipling Stalky i. 27 He was merely working up to a peroration. 1903G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-made Merch. viii. 109 He was..drawing ten thousand a year, which was more than he could have worked up to in the leather business in a century. 1916E. W. Hamilton 1st Seven Divisions (1917) 41 An additional flanking corps that was said to be working up from the direction of Tournai.
** d. trans. To stir up, mix, or compound, as a plastic substance or substances: cf. 12 d. Also intr. for pass.: cf. 29.
c1450M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 127 Let hit stande nyne dayes & nyne nyȝtes, & þan go werche hit vp, & let frye hit in apanne. c1550Lloyd Treas. Health V 2, Take..Frankencense, [and] as much oyle as shalbe thought sufficient, make it and worke it vp well. 1584Cogan Haven Health (1636) 53, I advise all students that be troubled with wind..to cause Fennell seeds, Anise or Careway to bee wrought up in their bread. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xviii, A stew of tripe,..and cow-heel,..and bacon,..and steak,..and peas, cauliflowers, new potatoes, and sparrow-grass, all working up together in one delicious gravy. 1855Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 213 Any hard material, that does not soon work up into mud or grind into dust. 1868L. M. Alcott Little Women xi, Hannah had left a pan of bread to rise, Meg had worked it up early,..and forgotten it.
e. To make up (material) into something by labour (cf. 8); also, to bring into some condition, esp. so as to be ready for use (cf. 12 l).
1591in G. C. Bond Early Hist. Mining (1924) 11 The fyner and hammerman for working up the said 50 tonns of barr iron. 1698Acts Massachusetts (1724) 116 No Person..shall work up into Shoes..any Leather that is not tanned and curried in Manner as aforesaid. 1739C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 60 Fir..Timber was chosen as being..the easiest work'd up. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 325 Seneca..starting a doubt whether God made His own materials, or only worked up such as He found already in being. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. Sel. Wks. (1892) 236 The raw and prepared material [sc. silk]..is worked up in various ways. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Introd. 7 The straw-plait..is wrought up into hats and bonnets. 1869W. T. Thornton On Labour iii. v. 323 A builder..willing to keep his men employed during the bad weather..allowed them to work up a quantity of stone to be ready for use in the spring. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 106 Mediastinal sarcoma..spreads in upon and works up the pulmonary tissue in an irregular and crab-like manner, simulating cancer.
f. gen., or in reference to something immaterial: To make up, develop, expand, enlarge (to or into something).
1693Creech in Dryden's Juvenal xiii. (1697) 336 For he that but conceives a Crime in thought, Contracts the danger of an Actual Fault: Then what must he expect that still proceeds To finish Sin, and work up Thoughts to Deeds? 1712Budgell Spect. No. 307 ⁋2 Your agreeable manner of working up Trifles. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk., Rural Life (1821) I. 112 A spray could not tremble in the breeze—a leaf could not rustle to the ground—..; but it has been noticed by these..observers, and wrought up into some beautiful morality. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xiii. 278 All this could easily be wrought up into a claim. 1907Mrs. C. Kernahan Fraud iv. 28 He had got a dramatic situation..which he meant Danvers to work up.
g. To bring by labour or effort to or into a higher state or condition. Cf. k below.
1668Dryden Dram. Poesy 66 This last is indeed the representation of Nature, but 'tis Nature wrought up to an higher pitch. 1760D. Webb Inq. Beauties Painting 158 The expression in this statue [Laocoon], is worked up to such a just extremity,..that, as the least addition would be extravagance, so every diminution would be a defect. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i, The kitchen and buttery were worked up to a high state of perfection. 1875E. White Life in Christ iii. xviii. (1878) 237 A man can work himself up into an immortal condition of ‘equality with the angels’..no more than an ox or an ass can work himself up into humanity.
h. To make up, form, construct, compose, produce (something material or immaterial): with special reference to the process, or to the labour, exertion, or care expended upon it. Cf. 3–6, 10.
1710Addison Tatler No. 153 ⁋1 An eminent artist, who wrought up his pictures with the greatest accuracy. 1713― Cato i. iv, The Sun..Works up more fire and colour in their cheeks. 1820Q. Mus. Mag. II. 60 Fugues wrought up with infinite art, and little effect. 1885Manch. Weekly Times 7 Mar. 5/5, I have perhaps worked up this picture a little too elaborately. 1897Henty On the Irrawaddy 120 My uncle is working up a very good business. 1911‘G. A. Birmingham’ Lighter Side Ir. Life i. 9 He stood..in front of the looking-glass working up appropriate gestures.
i. Naut. To set to or keep at needless and disagreeable hard work as a punishment. Cf. 19.
1840R. H. Dana [see haze v.1 2]. 1841― Seaman's Man. Dict., Work up.., a phrase for keeping a crew constantly at work upon needless matters, and in all weathers, and beyond their usual hours, for punishment. 1897F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 208 The hands no longer felt that they were continually being ‘worked up’ or ‘hazed’ for the sole, diabolical satisfaction of keeping them ‘at it’.
j. To ‘get up’ (a subject) by mental labour; to study carefully and in detail; to master by research. Cf. 12 k.
Mod. I'm working up mathematics for my examination. He's working up the history of the period for his new book.
*** k. trans. To bring by effort, or by some influence, into a particular state of mind or feeling, esp. one of strong emotion; to stir up, arouse, excite, incite (the mind, imagination, etc., or the person) to or into a state or action; to induce or persuade by effort to do something; without const., to put into a state of excitement, excite, agitate. Also refl. Cf. 14 a, b.
1688–9Stillingfl. Serm., 1 Pet. iv. 18 (1698) III. 120 It is no very hard Matter to work up a heated and devout Imagination to the Fancy of Raptures and Ecstasies. 1698Collier Immor. Stage 25 To work up their Lewdness with Verse and Musick. 1710Steele Tatler No. 172 ⁋2 We cannot but tremble to consider, what we are capable of being wrought up to. 1752Young Brothers iv. i, When I have work'd him up to violence. 1831James Phil. Augustus xxx, His whole powers and energies had been wrought up to bear it firmly and calmly. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy x, Tell him magnificent lies—astonish him with grand materials for a note-book and work him up to publish. 1874Burnand My Time xxxi. 306 My father had tried to work himself up into a passion. 1906B. Harraden Scholar's Dau. xiii, Every time I speak of it, I get fearfully worked up.
l. To put into commotion, stir up, agitate (physically). rare.
1705Addison Italy 54 This Lake [Garda] perfectly resembles a Sea, when it is work'd up by Storms.
m. intr. To be gradually stirred up or excited; to proceed or advance to a state of agitation or commotion. Cf. 34, and c above.
1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 141 So, several Factions from this first Ferment, Work up to Foam. 1709Steele Tatler No. 36 ⁋3 You know a premeditated Quarrel usually begins and works up with the words, Some people.
n. U.S. Med. (See quot.) Cf. work-up 2.
1961Amer. Speech XXXVI. 145 Work up, to perform a series of diagnostic procedures (X-rays, laboratory blood tests, electro-cardiograms, and so forth).
Sense 16 b in Dict. becomes 16 c. Add: [B.] [I.] [16.] b. Of a train or other public service vehicle: to operate along (a specified route). Also used of a company operating such a service. Cf. sense *33 f below.
1869Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 86 The Midland..ought not to work the main line. 1873Returns Railways Companies Connections 11 in Parl. Papers LVII. 765 Single Lines of Railway..Worked under the Train Porter System. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 143/2 A line on this system is worked between Barmen and Elberfeld. 1936Railway Mag. LXXVIII. 43/1 The line was worked by the L.M.S.R. and L.N.E.R., having been built..from Kilsyth junction..to Bonny Water junction. 1976P. R. White Planning for Public Transport viii. 173 The first APTs to enter service will probably work the London–Glasgow run. 1987Buses Extra Oct./Nov. 25/1 During the off-peak season it worked a town route between Swanage Pier and New Swanage, via the railway station.
[II.] [33.] f. Of a train or other public service vehicle: to ply between specified points of a scheduled route. Also in other const. Cf. senses 16 a, *b above.
1914Railway Mag. XXXIV. 19/1 Some of these [trains], though ranking as expresses and taken by express engines, work to and fro in the manner usually associated with suburban traffic. 1951Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 46/2 More recently..the main Blue Train has worked between Paris and Mentone. 1980K. Warren Fifty Yrs. Green Line i. 12/1 (caption) This coach was based at Alpha Street, Slough, and worked between Charing Cross and Windsor. 1986Rail Enthusiast May (Suppl.) p. v/2 It worked down to Edinburgh and that evening headed back towards Newcastle. |