From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Work \Work\ (w[^u]rk), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Worked} (w[^u]rkt),
or {Wrought} (r[add]t); p. pr. & vb. n. {Working}.] [AS.
wyrcean (imp. worthe, wrohte, p. p. geworht, gewroht); akin
to OFries. werka, wirka, OS. wirkian, D. werken, G. wirken,
Icel. verka, yrkja, orka, Goth. wa['u]rkjan. [root]145. See
{Work}, n.]
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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.
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O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work,
To match thy goodness? --Shak.
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Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw
be given you. --Ex. v. 18.
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Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake,
Our life doth pass. --Sir J.
Davies.
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2. Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform;
as, a machine works well.
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We bend to that the working of the heart. --Shak.
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3. Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or
influence; to conduce.
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We know that all things work together for good to
them that love God. --Rom. viii.
28.
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This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he
desired to be taught. --Locke.
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She marveled how she could ever have been wrought
upon to marry him. --Hawthorne.
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4. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed
customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor;
to toil.
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They that work in fine flax . . . shall be
confounded. --Isa. xix. 9.
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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.
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Confused with working sands and rolling waves.
--Addison.
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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.
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Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. --Milton.
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7. To ferment, as a liquid.
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The working of beer when the barm is put in.
--Bacon.
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8. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a
cathartic.
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Purges . . . work best, that is, cause the blood so
to do, . . . in warm weather or in a warm room.
--Grew.
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{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.
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