work

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Employment.

   • My work involves a lot of travel.
   • Come on Neriſſa, I haue worke in hand / That you yet know not of; wee'll ſee our husbands / Before they thinke of vs?
   • And in euery worke that he began[…]he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
2. 2

   Effort.

   • Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
3. 3

   Product

   Product; the result of effort.

   • There's a lot of guesswork involved.
4. ›+ 20 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      The staging of events to appear as real.

   2. 5

      Ore before it is dressed.

   3. 6

      The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)

      • Tell me you're using clean works at least.
      • He gave me a sour look. “All right is it? Well, you shoot some then.” I cooked up a grain and got out my works ready to take the shot.
   4. 7

      The confident attitude of a drag queen.

      • All told, werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery.
      • If the voice coming out of my body is legibly male, it complicates my presence. The work starts to approach that mysterious state of werq.
   5. 8

      To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.

      • He's working in a bar.
      • The world’s favorite airport and Asian mega-hub, Singapore Changi, is eagerly working towards opening its new Jewel and Terminal 5.
   6. 9

      To function correctly

      To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.

      • He pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?
      • He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work.
      • My plan didn't work.
   7. 10

      To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.

      • He worked the levers.
   8. 11

      To move or progress slowly or with difficulty

      To move or progress slowly or with difficulty; to proceed with effort.

      • to work into the earth
      • We worked back again and picked up our intended route, but we did not find the clear run I had hoped for.
   9. 12

      To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.

      • Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
      • So the pure limpid Stream, when foul with Stains / Of ruſhing Torrents, and deſcending Rains, / Work’s it ſelf clear, and as it runs, refines; / ’Till by Degrees, the floating Mirrour ſhines, / […]
   10. 13

       To embroider with thread.

   11. 14

       To ferment.

   12. 15

       To cause to ferment.

       • For Inanimate Things, you may trie the Force of Imagination, vpon Staying the Working of Beere, when the Barme is put in; Or vpon the Comming of Butter, or Cheeſe, after the Cherming, or the Rennet bee put in.
   13. 16

       To influence.

       • They worked on her to join the group.
   14. 17

       To move in an agitated manner.

       • His fingers worked with tension.
       • A ship works in a heavy sea.
       • Here vex’d with Winter Storms Benacus raves, / Confus’d with working Sands and rolling Waves; / Rough and tumultuous like a Sea it lyes, / So loud the Tempeſt roars, ſo high the Billows riſe.
   15. 18

       To behave in a certain way when handled

       • This dough does not work easily.
       • The soft metal works well.
   16. 19

       To cause (someone) to feel (something)

       To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).

   17. 20

       To hurt

       To hurt; to ache.

       • ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’
   18. 21

       To pull off

       To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.

       • I would have never thought those pieces would go together, but she is working it like nobody's business.
   19. 22

       To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.

       • Plus, all that gym work means you've got muscles for days. You gotta werk it, babe." She puts a swish and swing into her next few steps before she bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.
       • Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You better work" from the song is used on a daily basis.
   20. 23

       A surname.

The neighborhood

• synonymeffort
• synonymexertion
• synonympains
• synonymwark
• synonymwork
• antonymhobby
• neighbor-ingproduct (combining form)
• neighborinstrument
• neighboroccupation
• neighboractivity
• neighbordrudgery
• neighborlabor
• neighbormoil
• neighbortoil