1. Exertion of strength or faculties; physical or intellectual effort directed to an end; industrial activity; toil; employment; sometimes, specifically, physical labor. [1913 Webster]

Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed. Milton. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand
That you yet know not of. Shak. [1913 Webster]

In every work that he began . . . he did it with all his heart, and prospered. 2 Chron. xxxi. 21. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

To leave no rubs or blotches in the work. Shak. [1913 Webster]

The work some praise,
And some the architect. Milton. [1913 Webster]

Fancy . . .
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams. Milton. [1913 Webster]

The composition or dissolution of mixed bodies . . . is the chief work of elements. Sir K. Digby. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

I am glad I have found this napkin; . . .
I'll have the work ta'en out,
And give 't Iago. Shak. [1913 Webster]

(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. [1913 Webster]

5. Manner of working; management; treatment; as, unskillful work spoiled the effect. Bp. Stillingfleet. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Energy is the capacity of doing work . . . Work is the transference of energy from one system to another. Clerk Maxwell. [1913 Webster]

7. (Mining) Ore before it is dressed. Raymond. [1913 Webster]

8. pl. (Script.) Performance of moral duties; righteous conduct. [1913 Webster]

He shall reward every man according to his works. Matt. xvi. 27. [1913 Webster]

Faith, if it hath not works, is dead. James ii. 17. [1913 Webster]

9. (Cricket) Break; twist. [Cant] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

10. (Mech.) 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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

11. (Mining) Ore before it is dressed. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work,
To match thy goodness? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you. Ex. v. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake,
Our life doth pass. Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform; as, a machine works well. [ 1913 Webster ]

We bend to that the working of the heart. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or influence; to conduce. [ 1913 Webster ]

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Rom. viii. 28. [ 1913 Webster ]

This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor; to toil. [ 1913 Webster ]

They that work in fine flax . . . shall be confounded. Isa. xix. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Confused with working sands and rolling waves. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To ferment, as a liquid. [ 1913 Webster ]

The working of beer when the barm is put in. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a cathartic. [ 1913 Webster ]

Purges . . . work best, that is, cause the blood so to do, . . . in warm weather or in a warm room. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each herb he knew, that works or good or ill. Harte. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To influence by acting upon; to prevail upon; to manage; to lead. “Work your royal father to his ruin.” Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To form with a needle and thread or yarn; especially, to embroider; as, to work muslin. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To set in motion or action; to direct the action of; to keep at work; to govern; to manage; as, to work a machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Knowledge in building and working ships. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now, Marcus, thy virtue's the proof;
Put forth thy utmost strength, work every nerve. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To cause to ferment, as liquor. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Tears of joy for your returning spilt,
Work out and expiate our former guilt. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] (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. [ 1913 Webster ] The sun, that rolls his chariot o'er their heads,
Works up more fire and color in their cheeks. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ] (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. [ 1913 Webster ]