Defn: imp. of Ware.
WORK
Work, n. Etym: [OE. work, werk, weork, AS. weorc, worc; akin to
OFries. werk, wirk, OS., D., & G. werk, OHG. werc, werah, Icel. & Sw.
verk, Dan. værk, Goth. gawaúrki, Gr. verez to work. Bulwark, Energy,
Erg, Georgic, Liturgy, Metallurgy, Organ, Surgeon, Wright.]
1. Exertion of strength or faculties; physical or intellectual effort directed to an end; industrial activity; toil; employment; sometimes, specifically, physically labor. Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed. Milton.
2. The matter on which one is at work; that upon which one spends labor; material for working upon; subject of exertion; the thing occupying one; business; duty; as, to take up one's work; to drop one's work. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand That you yet know not of. Shak. In every work that he began . . . he did it with all his heart, and prospered. 2 Chron. xxxi. 21.
3. That which is produced as the result of labor; anything accomplished by exertion or toil; product; performance; fabric; manufacture; in a more general sense, act, deed, service, effect, result, achievement, feat. To leave no rubs or blotches in the work. Shak. The work some praise, And some the architect. Milton. Fancy . . . Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams. Milton. The composition or dissolution of mixed bodies . . . is the chief work of elements. Sir K. Digby.
4. Specifically: (a) That which is produced by mental labor; a composition; a book; as, a work, or the works, of Addison. (b) Flowers, figures, or the like, wrought with the needle; embroidery. I am glad I have found this napkin; . . . I'll have the work ta'en out, And give 't Iago. Shak. (c) pl.
Defn: Structures in civil, military, or naval engineering, as docks, bridges, embankments, trenches, fortifications, and the like; also, the structures and grounds of a manufacturing establishment; as, iron works; locomotive works; gas works. (d) pl.
Defn: The moving parts of a mechanism; as, the works of a watch.
5. Manner of working; management; treatment; as, unskillful work spoiled the effect. Bp. Stillingfleet.
6. (Mech.)