WORK, v.i. [G., Gr.]

1. Labor; employment; exertion of strength; particularly in man, manual labor.
2. State of labor; as, to be at work.
3. Awkward performance. What work you make!
4. That which us made or done; as, good work, or bad work.
5. Embroidery; flowers or figures wrought with the needle.
6. Any fabric or manufacture.
7. The matter on which one is at work. In rising she dropped her work.
8. Action; deed; feat; achievement; as, the works of bloody Mars. – Pope.
9. Operation. As to the composition or dissolution of mixed bodies, which is the chief work of elements.
10. Effect; that which proceeds from agency. Fancy / Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams. – Milton.
11. Management; treatment. – Shak.
12. That which is produced by mental labor; a composition; a book; as, the works of Addison.
13. Works, in the plural, walls, trenches and the like, made for fortifications.
14. In theology, moral duties or external performances, as distinct from grace. To set to work, or To set on work, to employ; to engage in any business. – Hooker.

1. In a general sense, to move, or to move one way and the other; to perform; as in popular language it is said, a mill or machine works well.
2. To labor; to be occupied in performing manual labor, whether severe or moderate. One man works better than another; one man works hard; another works lazily.
3. To be in action or motion; as, the working of the heart. – Shak.
4. To act; to carry on operations. Our better part remains / To work in close design. – Milton.
5. To operate; to carry on business; to be customarily engaged or employed in. Some work in the mines, others in the loom, others at the anvil. They that work in fine flax. – Isa. xix.
6. To ferment; as, unfermented liquors work violently in hot weather.
7. To operate; to produce effects by action or influence. All things work together for good to them that love God. – Rom. viii. This so wrought upon the child, that afterward he desired to be taught. – Locke.
8. To obtain by diligence. [Little used.] – Shak.
9. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels; as a cathartic.
10. To labor; to strain; to move heavily; as, a ship works in a tempest.
11. To be tossed or agitated. Confus'd with working sands and rolling waves. – Addison.
12. To enter by working; as, to work into the earth. To work on, to act on; to influence. To work up, to make way. Body shall up to spirit work. – Milton. To work to windward, among seamen, to sail or ply against the wind; to beat. – Mar. Dict.

1. To move; to stir and mix; as, to work mortar.
2. To form by labor; to mold, shape or manufacture; as, to work wood or iron into a form desired, or into an utensil; to work cotton or wool into cloth.
3. To bring into any state by action. A foul stream, or new wine or cider, works itself clear.
4. To influence by acting upon; to manage; to lead. And work your royal father to his ruin. – Philips.
5. To make by action, labor or violence. A stream works a passage or a new channel. Sidelong he works his way. – Milton.
6. To produce by action, labor or exertion. We might work any effect … only by the unity of nature. Bacon. Each herb he knew, that works or good or ill. – Harte.
7. To embroider; as, to work muslin.
8. To direct the movements of, by adapting the sails to the wind; as, to work a ship.
9. To put to labor; to exert. Work every nerve. – Addison.
10. To cause to ferment, as liquor. To work out, to effect by labor and exertion. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. – Phil. ii. #2. To erase; to efface. [Not used.] #3. To solve, as a problem. To work up, to raise; to excite; as, to work up the passions to rage. The sun that rolls his chariot o'er their heads / Works up more tire and color in their cheeks. – Addison. #2. To expend in any work, as materials. They have worked up all the stock. To work double tides, in the language of seamen, to perform the labor of three days in two; a phrase taken from the practice of working by the night tide as well as by the day. To work into, to make way, or to insinuate; as, to work one's self into favor or confidence. To work a passage, among seamen, to pay for a passage by doing duty on board of the ship.

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.
   
   

   O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work,
   To match thy goodness? Shak.

   Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you. Ex. v. 18.

   Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake,
   Our life doth pass. Sir J. Davies.

2. To labor or operate upon; to give exertion and effort to; to prepare for use, or to utilize, by labor.
   
   

   He could have told them of two or three gold mines, and a silver mine, and given the reason why they forbare to work them at that time. Sir W. Raleigh.

3. Break; twist.
   
   
   [Cant]
4. Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform; as, a machine works well.
   
   

   We bend to that the working of the heart. Shak.

5. To produce or form by labor; to bring forth by exertion or toil; to accomplish; to originate; to effect; as, to work wood or iron into a form desired, or into a utensil; to work cotton or wool into cloth.
   
   

   Each herb he knew, that works or good or ill. Harte.

6. The causing of motion against a resisting force, measured by the product of the force into the component of the motion resolved along the direction of the force.
   
   

   Energy is the capacity of doing work. . . . Work is the transference of energy from one system to another. Clerk Maxwell.

7. Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or influence; to conduce.
   
   

   We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Rom. viii. 28.

   This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught. Locke.

   She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him. Hawthorne.

8. To produce by slow degrees, or as if laboriously; to bring gradually into any state by action or motion.
   
   
   "Sidelong he works his way." Milton.

   So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains
   Of rushing torrents and descending rains,
   Works itself clear, and as it runs, refines,
   Till by degrees the floating mirror shines. Addison.

9. Ore before it is dressed.
10. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor; to toil.
    
    

    They that work in fine flax . . . shall be confounded. Isa. xix. 9.

11. To influence by acting upon; to prevail upon; to manage; to lead.
    
    
    "Work your royal father to his ruin." Philips.
12. 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.
    
    

    Confused with working sands and rolling waves. Addison.

13. To form with a needle and thread or yarn; especially, to embroider; as, to work muslin.
14. 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.
    
    

    Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
    Proportioned to each kind. Milton.

15. To set in motion or action; to direct the action of; to keep at work; to govern; to manage; as, to work a machine.
    
    

    Knowledge in building and working ships. Arbuthnot.

    Now, Marcus, thy virtue's the proof;
    Put forth thy utmost strength, work every nerve. Addison.

    The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
    Where they were wont to do. Coleridge.

16. To ferment, as a liquid.
    
    

    The working of beer when the barm is put in. Bacon.

17. To cause to ferment, as liquor.
    
    

    To work a passage (Naut.), to pay for a passage by doing work. -- To work double tides (Naut.), to perform the labor of three days in two; -- a phrase which alludes to a practice of working by the night tide as well as by the day. -- To work in, to insert, introduce, mingle, or interweave by labor or skill. -- To work into, to force, urge, or insinuate into; as, to work one's self into favor or confidence. -- To work off, to remove gradually, as by labor, or a gradual process; as, beer works off impurities in fermenting. -- To work out. (a) To effect by labor and exertion. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Phil. ii. 12. (b) To erase; to efface. [R.]

    Tears of joy for your returning spilt,
    Work out and expiate our former guilt. Dryden.

    (c) To solve, as a problem. (d) To exhaust, as a mine, by working. -- To work up. (a) To raise; to excite; to stir up; as, to work up the passions to rage.

    The sun, that rolls his chariot o'er their heads,
    Works up more fire and color in their cheeks. Addison.

    (b) To expend in any work, as materials; as, they have worked up all the stock. (c) (Naut.) To make over or into something else, as yarns drawn from old rigging, made into spun yarn, foxes, sennit, and the like; also, to keep constantly at work upon needless matters, as a crew in order to punish them. R. H. Dana, Jr.

18. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a cathartic.
    
    

    Purges . . . work best, that is, cause the blood so to do, . . . in warm weather or in a warm room. Grew.

    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.