work

See also: -work

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-
    Proto-Indo-European *-om
    Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom
    Proto-Germanic *werką
    Proto-West Germanic *werk
    Old English weorc
    Middle English werk
    English work

    From Middle English work, werk, from Old English weorc, from Proto-West Germanic *werk, from Proto-Germanic *werką, from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom.

    Akin to Scots wark, Saterland Frisian Wierk, West Frisian wurk, Dutch werk, German Werk, German Low German Wark, Danish værk, Norwegian Bokmål verk, Norwegian Nynorsk verk, Swedish verk, yrke and orka, Icelandic verk, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌹 (gawaurki), Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”) (from ϝέργον (wérgon)), Avestan 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰 (vərəz, “to work, to perform”), Armenian գործ (gorc, “work”), Albanian argëtoj (“entertain, reward, please”), Russian варганить (varganitʹ, “"to whip up, to cook something quickly, to throw together"”). English cognates include bulwark, boulevard, energy, erg, georgic, liturgy, metallurgy, organ, surgeon, wright. Doublet of erg and ergon.

    Noun

    work (countable and uncountable, plural works)

    1. (uncountable) Employment.
      1. Labour, occupation, job.
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:occupation
        My work involves a lot of travel.
      2. The place where one is employed.
        He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still at work.
      3. (by extension) One's employer.
        I want to go to the reunion concert, but I'm not sure if my work will give me the time off.
      4. (dated) A factory; a works.
        • 1917, Platers' Guide, page 246:
          In trials of a Martin furnace in a steel work at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after […]
    2. (uncountable) Effort.
      1. Effort expended on a particular task.
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:work
        Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
      2. Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
        We know what we must do. Let's go to work.
        We don't have much time. Let's get to work piling up those sandbags.
      3. Something on which effort is expended.
        There's lots of work waiting for me at the office.
        1. (euphemistic) Plastic surgery.
          has had a lot of work done
          • 2025 May 20, Marina Hyde, “Was this a hen do or a humanitarian mission to liberate Paris? Either way, give Lauren Sánchez an award”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
            Luckily, our eyes have grown accustomed after decades of Botox, fillers and extreme “work” going mainstream, so we don’t notice the weirdness and read it instead as maximum hotness. Thank you, progress!
        2. (prison slang) Prison gang violence.
          has been putting in work
      5. (physics) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
        Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
      6. (physics, more generally) A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process: applied productively.
        • 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
          Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning "vortex", and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
    3. Product; the result of effort.
      1. (uncountable, often in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.
        There's a lot of guesswork involved.
      2. (uncountable, often in combination) Something produced using the specified material or tool.
        We've got some paperwork to do before we can get started. The piece was decorated with intricate filigree work.
      3. (countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production; a creative work.
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:creative work
        It is a work of art.
        the poetic works of Alexander Pope
        • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 140, column 2:
          To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in the Worke:
        • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 730–732:
          The haſty multitude / Admiring enter'd, and the work ſome praiſe / And ſome the Architect:
        • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
          “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […] ”
      4. (countable) A fortification.
        William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
    4. (uncountable, slang, professional wrestling) The staging of events to appear as real.
    5. (mining) Ore before it is dressed.[1]
    6. (slang, plural only) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)
      Tell me you're using clean works at least.
      • 1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, pages 25–26:
        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.
      • 1996, Paul Harding Douglas with Laura Pinsky, The Essential AIDS Fact Book, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 25:
        If you buy new works, clean them before using them. If you share works, clean them before you or the next person uses them. Blood may be in your works even if you can't see it. Clean your works either with rubbing alcohol (available in drugstores), a household bleach solution (three tablespoons of bleach in a cup of water), or boiling water.
      • 2009, Gillian G. Gaar, The Rough Guide to Nirvana‎[2], Rough Guides UK, →ISBN:
        While in San Francisco, where the AIDS crisis was particularly devastating, they saw numerous public awareness signs reading “Bleach Your Works” posted around the city, urging IV drug users to clean their needles with bleach to help staunch the spread of the disease.
    7. (LGBTQ slang) The confident attitude of a drag queen.
      • 2018 April 17, madison moore, Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 27:
        All told, werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery.
      • 2022 January 25, Monique Jenkinson, Faux Queen: A Life in Drag, Bywater Books, →ISBN:
        If the voice coming out of my body is legibly male, it complicates my presence. The work starts to approach that mysterious state of werq.
    Derived terms
    Descendants
    • Pijin: waka
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    See also

    • (product (combining form)): -ing

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English werken and worchen, from Old English wyrċan and wircan (Mercian), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ǵyéti (“to be working, to be at work”), from the root *werǵ-. Cognate with Old Frisian werka, wirka, Old Saxon wirkian, Low German warken, Dutch werken, Old High German wurken (German wirken, werken and werkeln), Old Norse yrkja and orka, (Swedish yrka and orka), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waurkjan).

    Verb

    work (third-person singular simple present works, present participle working, simple past and past participle worked or (rare/archaic) wrought)

    1. (intransitive) To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
      He's working in a bar.
      1. Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].
        I work in a national park.
        She works in the human resources department.
        He mostly works in logging but sometimes works in carpentry too.
      2. Said of one's job title [with as].
        • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 287:
          This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
        I work as a cleaner.
      3. Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
        She works for Microsoft.
        He works for the President.
      4. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].
        I work closely with my Canadian counterparts.
        You work with computers, right?
        She works with the homeless people from the suburbs.
      5. (transitive) To or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
        She works the night clubs.
        The salesman works the Midwest.
      6. (transitive) To or operate in, through, or by means of.
        She's working the phones.
    2. (intransitive) To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
      • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[3], volume 189, number 2, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 June 2023, page 48:
        The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
      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.
    3. (transitive) To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
      1. To set into action.
        He worked the levers.
      3. To exhaust, by working.
        The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
        • 1774, Edward Long, chapter 11, in The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, page 240:
          They were told of a ſilver mine, that had been worked by the Spaniards, ſomewhere in the Healthſhire Hills, in St. Catharine; but they were not able to diſcover it.
      4. To shape, form, or improve a material.
        He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
      5. To provoke or excite; to influence.
        The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
        • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 17:
          "Still, boozers can be worked sometimes. Most people can, if you encourage their kink. One old woman staked me for three months because she got such a kick out of scandalmongering the neighbours to me."
      6. To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
        She knows how to work the system.
      7. (law) To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
        I cannot work a miracle.
        • 2022, Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation Bylaws, Article III, Section 3.01:
          Failure to hold the annual meeting, or to otherwise conduct the business of the annual meeting, shall not work a forfeiture or dissolution of the Cooperative.
      8. To force to .
        He is working his servants hard.
    4. (intransitive) To move or progress slowly or with difficulty.
      to work into the earth
      1. (transitive) To move or progress slowly [with one's way].
        He worked his way through the crowd.
        The dye worked its way through.
    5. (transitive) To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
      Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
      • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 16:
        So the pure limpid Stream, when foul with Stains / Of ruſhing Torrents, and deſcending Rains, / Work’s it ſelf clear, and as it runs, refines; / ’Till by Degrees, the floating Mirrour ſhines, / […]
    6. (transitive) To embroider with thread.
    7. (intransitive) To ferment.
    8. (transitive) To cause to ferment.
      • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “X. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 992, page 255:
        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.
    9. (intransitive, figuratively) To influence.
      They worked on her to join the group.
    10. (intransitive) To move in an agitated manner.
      His fingers worked with tension.
      A ship works in a heavy sea.
      • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Brescia, Verona, Padua”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 54:
        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.
    11. (intransitive) To behave in a certain way when handled
      This dough does not work easily.
      The soft metal works well.
    12. (ditransitive, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
    13. (obsolete, intransitive) To hurt; to ache.
    14. (slang, transitive) 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.
    15. (LGBTQ slang, intransitive) To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.
      • 2020 November 9, Shae Connor, Rough and Tumble, Entangled: Embrace, →ISBN:
        Plus, all that gym work means you've got muscles for days. You gotta werk it, babe." She puts a swish and swing into her next few steps before she bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.
      • 2022 February 1, Lindsay Bryde, Tommy Mayberry, RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning with RuPaul's Drag Race, McFarland, →ISBN, page 41:
        Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You better work" from the song is used on a daily basis.
    Conjugation
    Conjugation of work
    infinitive (to) work
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular work worked, wrought†
    2nd-person singular work, workest† worked, workedst†, wrought†
    3rd-person singular works, worketh† worked, wrought†
    plural work
    subjunctive work worked, wrought†
    imperative work —
    participles working worked, wrought†

    † Archaic or obsolete.

    Derived terms
    phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
    other terms derived from the work (verb)
    Descendants
    • → Cantonese: work (adjective)
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Further reading

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

    References

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

    Chinese

    Etymology

    From English work (verb).

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    work (Hong Kong Cantonese)

    1. working as intended; functioning
    2. effective

    Verb

    work (Hong Kong Cantonese)

    1. to work as intended; to function

    References

    Middle English

    Noun

    work

    1. alternative form of werk
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