- To work at
- Work Work (w[^u]rk), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Worked} (w[^u]rkt),
or {Wrought} (r[add]t); p. pr. & vb. n. {Working}.] [AS.
wyrcean (imp. worthe, wrohte, p. p. geworht, gewroht); akin
to OFries. werka, wirka, OS. wirkian, D. werken, G. wirken,
Icel. verka, yrkja, orka, Goth. wa['u]rkjan. [root]145. See
{Work}, n.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To exert one's self for a purpose; to put forth effort for
the attainment of an object; to labor; to be engaged in
the performance of a task, a duty, or the like.
[1913 Webster]
O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work, To match thy goodness? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you. --Ex. v. 18. [1913 Webster]
Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake, Our life doth pass. --Sir J. Davies. [1913 Webster]
2. Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform; as, a machine works well. [1913 Webster]
We bend to that the working of the heart. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or influence; to conduce. [1913 Webster]
We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. --Rom. viii. 28. [1913 Webster]
This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
4. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor; to toil. [1913 Webster]
They that work in fine flax . . . shall be confounded. --Isa. xix. 9. [1913 Webster]
5. To be in a state of severe exertion, or as if in such a state; to be tossed or agitated; to move heavily; to strain; to labor; as, a ship works in a heavy sea. [1913 Webster]
Confused with working sands and rolling waves. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
6. To make one's way slowly and with difficulty; to move or penetrate laboriously; to proceed with effort; -- with a following preposition, as down, out, into, up, through, and the like; as, scheme works out by degrees; to work into the earth. [1913 Webster]
Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportioned to each kind. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
7. To ferment, as a liquid. [1913 Webster]
The working of beer when the barm is put in. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
8. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a cathartic. [1913 Webster]
Purges . . . work best, that is, cause the blood so to do, . . . in warm weather or in a warm room. --Grew. [1913 Webster]
{To work at}, to be engaged in or upon; to be employed in.
{To work to windward} (Naut.), to sail or ply against the wind; to tack to windward. --Mar. Dict. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
