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Work at   /wərk æt/   Listen
verb
Work  v. i.  (past & past part. worked or wrought; pres. part. working)  
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?" "Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you." "Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake, Our life doth pass."
2.
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."
3.
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." "This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught." "She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him."
4.
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."
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. "Confused with working sands and rolling waves."
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. "Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportioned to each kind."
7.
To ferment, as a liquid. "The working of beer when the barm is put in."
8.
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."
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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Work at" Quotes from Famous Books



... admitting Apprentices, taking only such as are fit both physically and morally, and keeping none without assurance that he would stay seven years in order to learn his craft. He must be patient with his pupils, instruct them diligently, encourage them with increased pay, and not permit them to work at night, "unless in the pursuit of knowledge, which shall be a sufficient excuse." He must be wise and discreet, and undertake no work he cannot both perform and complete equally to the profit of his employer and the craft. Should ...
— The Builders - A Story and Study of Masonry • Joseph Fort Newton
... "The whole industrial expansion of Germany dates from the introduction of the Bessemer process in 1879, by which its supplies of iron became possible to work at a ...
— The World in Chains - Some Aspects of War and Trade • John Mavrogordato
... Devil did the Work at last, and when the Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, he threw in the new Notion of Primacy among ...
— The History of the Devil - As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts • Daniel Defoe
... may not be strong for a year or two, and must be careful not to overtask himself, but John made him see one of the greatest physicians in New York, to whom Dr. Medlicott had sent letters of introduction-as if they were needed, he said, after Jock's work at Abville. He said, as John did, there was no lasting damage to the heart, and that the attack was the consequence of having been brought so low; but he will be as strong and healthy as ever, if he will only be careful as to exertion for a year or so. This appointment is the ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge
... warrior, breaking a silence that had been long kept, "this is cold work at the best, and hunger pinches me; ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book VIII • Edward Bulwer Lytton


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