資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Work \Work\, n. [OE. work, werk, weork, AS. weorc, worc; akin to
OFries. werk, wirk, OS., D., & G. werk, OHG. werc, werah,
Icel. & Sw. verk, Dan. v[ae]rk, Goth. gawa['u]rki, Gr. ?, ?,
work, ? to do, ? an instrument, ? secret rites, Zend verez to
work. ????. Cf. {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. 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. 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.) The causing of motion against a resisting force.
The amount of work is proportioned to, and is measured by,
the product of the force into the amount of motion along
the direction of the force. See {Conservation of energy},
under {Conservation}, {Unit of work}, under {Unit}, also
{Foot pound}, {Horse power}, {Poundal}, and {Erg}.
Energy is the capacity of doing work . . . Work is
the transference of energy from one system to
another. --Clerk
Maxwell.
7. (Mining) Ore before it is dressed. --Raymond.
8. pl. (Script.) Performance of moral duties; righteous
conduct.
He shall reward every man according to his works.
--Matt. xvi.
27.
Faith, if it hath not works, is dead. --James ii.
17.
{Muscular work} (Physiol.), the work done by a muscle through
the power of contraction.
{To go to work}, to begin laboring; to commence operations;
to contrive; to manage. ``I 'll go another way to work
with him.'' --Shak.
{To set on work}, to cause to begin laboring; to set to work.
[Obs.] --Hooker.
{To set to work}, to employ; to cause to engage in any
business or labor.