Sekirov Dictionary

work

UK /wɜːk/US /wɝk/

verb 36
noun 22
forms 10
phrases 20

verb36

•
to put effort of the body or mind into doing a task
- He's working in a bar.
to have a job, usually one that earns money
•
To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
- He pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?
- He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work.
•
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.
•
Said of one's job title [with as].
- I work as a cleaner.
•
Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
- She works for Microsoft.
- He works for the President.
•
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?
•
To be employed or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
- She works the night clubs.
- The salesman works the Midwest.
•
To be employed at (a job or role).
- That summer I worked a job at the beach.
•
To be appealing; to be approved of.
- The chef's steak frites just didn't work for me.
- That shirt doesn't work on her.
To continue laboriously.
•
To move or progress slowly or with difficulty; to proceed with effort.
- We worked back again and picked up our intended route, but we did not find the clear run I had hoped for. — 1951
•
To move or progress slowly [with one's way].
- He worked his way through the crowd.
- The dye worked its way through.
•
To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
- Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
•
To provoke or excite; to influence.
- The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
•
(figurative) To influence.
- They worked on her to join the group.
To be operative in a specified way.
•
To behave in a certain way when handled
- This dough does not work easily.
- The soft metal works well.
•
To set into action.
- He worked the levers.
•
To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
- She knows how to work the system.
•
To use intensely and successfully.
- He worked that basketball like a boss!
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
•
To be employed or operate in, through, or by means of.
- She's working the phones.
•
To shape, form, or improve a material.
- He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
To embroider with thread.
•
To force or compel to work.
- He is working his servants hard.
•
To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.
- 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. — 2020
•
(slang) 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.
•
To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
- I cannot work a miracle.
•
To move in an agitated manner.
- His fingers worked with tension.
- A ship works in a heavy sea.
•
To exhaust, by working.
- The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
To ferment (produce alcohol from sugars).
To ferment.
To cause to ferment.
(literary) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
(no longer used) To hurt; to ache.

noun22

Effort.
Employment.
•
Labour, occupation, job.
- My work involves a lot of travel.
•
Effort expended on a particular task.
- Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
•
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.
•
The place where one is employed.
- He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still at work.
•
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.
•
[in compounds] The result of a particular manner of production.
- There's a lot of guesswork involved.
•
A literary, artistic, or intellectual production; a creative work.
- It is a work of art.
- the poetic works of Alexander Pope
•
Something on which effort is expended.
- There's lots of work waiting for me at the office.
•
(euphemistic) Cosmetic surgery.
- has had a lot of work done
Product; the result of effort.
•
[in compounds] 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.
•
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.
A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process: applied productively.
•
[plural only] (slang) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)
- Tell me you're using clean works at least.
•
A fortification.
- William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
•
(old-fashioned) A factory; a works.
- In trials of a Martin furnace in a steel work at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after[…] — 1917
(slang) The staging of events to appear as real.
•
The confident attitude of a drag queen.
- All told, werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery. — 2018
(slang) Prison gang violence.
Ore before it is dressed.

forms

work'd · worked · wrought · workedst · wroughtest · ywrought · working · worketh · works · workest

Phrases with work

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