work 
To work at arm's length, see anns-lemjth.~To work 
atcaae. See co«e*-\— To work double tides. See tide^. 
— To work free. See/re«.— To work off, to be evacu- 
ated or eliminated, as poison from the system, by the 
bowels or kidneys.— To WOrk on or upon, (o) To act 
or operate upon ; exert a force or active influence upon ; 
affect. 
A mark, and a hope, and a subject for every sophister 
in religion to teork on. Donne, Letters, xc. 
We were now at a great loss, not knowing what course 
to take, for we tempted him [an Indian] with Beads, 
Money, Hatchets, Macheats, or long Knives ; but nothing 
would toork on him. Dampier, Voyages, I. 13. 
(ftt) To rely on. 
"1 schal, sire," seide the child, "for saufliche y hope 
I may worche on gour word to wite hlra fro harm." 
WiUiam of Paierne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 257. 
To work witll, to endeavor to influence, as with reason- 
ing, entreaty, etc.; strive with in order to influence in 
some particular way ; labor with. 
I wrought with him in private, to divert him 
From your assur'd destruction, had he met you. 
Beau, and Fl., Little French Lawyer, iii. 1. 
=ByiL Act, Work, etc. See act. 
II, trans. 1. To prepare by labor ; manipu- 
late : as, to trork soil or clay. 
Ffate lande ydoanged moist and wel yurrought 
Onyons desire. 
Palladium, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 82. 
When special pains are taken to "work the butter" 
thoroughly, thus more effectually getting rid of the water 
and buttermilk, it keeps for a much longer period in a 
" sweet" condition. Science, XVI. 71. 
2. To convert to use by labor or effort: oper- 
ate: as, to tcork a quarry; to icork a scheme. 
The head member of the company that worked the mines 
was Mr. Peter Gai-stin. and the same company received 
the rent for the 8ugar Loaf. George Eliot^ Felix Holt, xi. 
As the claim was worked back, the long tom was extended 
by means of sluice boxes, until a dozen or more miners 
were shoveiing dirt into them on both sides. 
The Centurg, XLII. 140. 
3. To make; form; fashion; execute; mohi. 
Alias ! that we wer tcrmigkte 
In worlde women to be. Ymk Playg, p. 153. 
A roong other, a wonderfull gretnesse that be rygtht 
Curiusely wrogtk and arn fyne gold gamyshed over all 
with stones of gret Pryse. 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 11. 
That was one of the famous cups of Tours, urmight by 
Martin Dominique. Scott, Quentin Durward, iv. 
Here is a sword I have wrought thee. 
WiUiam Morrvt, Sigurd, ii. 
4. To decorate or ornament, as with needU- 
work; embroider. 
She hath a clout of mine, 
Wrought with good Coventry. 
PhUlada Jlout» me (Arber'sEng. Garner, I. 311). 
You shall see my wrmtght shirt hang out at my breeches ; 
you shall knowme. Margtori, Antonio and MeIlida,I.,v. 1. 
Ay, I have lost my thimble and a skein of Coventry 
bine I had to work Gregory Litchfield a handkerchief. 
J^. Jonmn, Gipsies .Metamorphosed. 
A shape with amice wrapp'd around, 
With a wrought Spanish baldric Iwund, 
Like pilgrim from l>eyond the sea. 
Scott, L. of L. M., vi. 2<;. 
A damask napkin wrought with horse and hound. 
Tenngmn, Audley Court. 
5. To do, perform, or accomplish; bring about: 
effect; produce; cause: as, to trork mischief; 
to trork a change ; to uork wonders. 
A felle man in flght, fuerse on his enimys. 
And in batell full biggo, A myche l)ale vroght. 
DeMruction of Trog (E. E. T. H.), 1. 3971. 
Alias ! wrecchis, what haue wc wrought? 
To byggly blys we Ixjthe wer Ifrought. 
I'tn-k Plagu, p. :J<1. 
Than he taught hir ther a pley that she itrought after 
many tymes, (Tor he taught hir to do come a grete river 
ooer all theras her liked. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 312. 
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. 
worketh for us a far more excee<iiiig and eternal weight of 
glory. *i Cor. iv. 17. 
Changes wore vrrnught in the parts. 
Bacon, Physical Fables, i., Expl. 
Not long after there fell nut an unexpected Accident, 
that suddenly wrougiu the Lords ('onfusion. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. lin. 
The emancipation is observed, in the i.<4lands, to have 
irrought for the negro a benefit as sudden as when a ther- 
mometer is brtHight out of the shade int*) the sun. 
Kjnrritfm, West Indian Emancipation. 
6. To put or set in motion or action: as, to 
tcork one's fingers. 
The mariners all 'gan work the lopes. 
Where they were wont to do. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, v. 
They are every one of them dead dolls, wofiden, uorked 
with wires. Kingfleg, Hypatia, xiii. 
No<]ding in a familiar manner to the coachman, as if 
any one of them would be quite eipial to getting on the 
box and irorking the team down street as well as he. 
T. Hugheii,T(tm Bn>wn at Rugby, i. f.. 
7. (fl) To direct the action or movements of; 
manage ; handle : as, to irork a sawmill. 
6975 
Mere personal valour could not supply want of know- 
ledge in building and working ships. Arbtithnot. 
(&) In music, to handle or treat (a voice-part or 
a theme). — 8. To bring by action or motion 
into some particular state, usually indicated by 
an adverb or adverbial adjunct, as itij out, over, 
up, etc. See phrases below. 
Practise all things chiefly at two several times, the one 
when the mind is best disposed, the other when it is worst 
disposed ; that by the one you may gain a great step, by 
the other you may work out the knots and stonds of the 
mind. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 296. 
So the pure limpid stream, when foul with stains 
Of rushing torrents and descending rains. 
Works itself clear, and as it runs refines. 
Addison, Cato, i. (>. 
9. To manage or turn to some particular course 
or way of thinking or acting by insidious 
means; influence in some respect by plying 
with arguments, urgings, threats, bribes, etc. ; 
prevail on or gain over; induce; persuade; 
lead: as, to trork the committee; to work the 
jury. 
There is noe hope that they will ever be it-rought to 
serve faythfully agaynst theyr old frendes and kinsenien. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
I will try his temper ; 
And, if I find him apt for my employments, 
I'll work him to my ends. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, v. 1. 
The Clergy being thus brought on, on the nine and 
twentieth of April, the Cardinal came int-o the House of 
Commons, to work them also. Baker, Chronicles, p. 270. 
Many of the Jews were wrought into the belief that 
Herod was the Messias. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 3. 
10. To excite by degrees ; bring into a state of 
perturbation or passion ; provoke ; agitate. 
Some passion 
That iporka him stronjily. 
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 144. 
Sir Lucius has irrought me to it. He has left me full of 
rage — and 111 flght this evening, that so much good pas- 
sion mayn't be wasted. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 1. 
11. To succeed in effecting, attaining, or mak- 
ing; win by labor; achieve: as, to trork a pas- 
sage through something. 
Through winds and waves and storms he u-orks his way. 
Addimn, Cato, i. 3. 
Some months afterwards Aniory made his appeai'ance 
at Calcutta, having worked his way out before the mast 
from the Cape. Thackeray, Fendennis, xxv. 
We passed heavily laden junks slowly nxtrki ng thciv way 
upstream amidst what to any but the Chinese would have 
appeared insurmountable ditficulties. 
The Centnrg, XLI. 729. 
12. To endeavor: attempt; try. 
By reason she was fast in the latch of our cable . . . she 
could not clearc her selfe as she wrought to doe. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smiths Works, II. 43. 
13. To o])erate <m, as a purgative or other 
drug; pur^'C. 
Every time it operates, it cames off a Distemper ; but 
if your Blo<^d s \\hole8ome, and your Body Sound, it will 
irorA- you no more than the same quantity of Gingerbread. 
Quoted in Anhton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne. 
III. 1()6. 
14. To ply one's trade, calling, vocation, or 
business in; carry on operations in or on; as. 
to trork a district in canvassing for a publica- 
tion. [CoUoq.] 
I've worked lK>th town and country on gold fish. I've 
served lM)th Bright<in and Hastings. 
Mayheu\ I^ondon Labour and London Pooi-, II. 91. 
As a general rule, the " casual ward " of a workhouse, so 
far from being the temporarj' refuge of deserving poor, is 
aplaceof rendezvous for thieves and prostitutes and other 
vagabonds of the lowest class, gangs of whom work al- 
lotted districts, and make their circuits with as much reg- 
ularity as the Judges. 
A. Doyle, (juoted in Riliton-Turner's Vagrants and 
[Vagrancy, p. 293. 
Tlic first day I started alone to explore the forest with 
gun and dog, leaving my friends to work the river. 
Fortnightly Ilev., \. S., XLIII. 632. 
15. To exact labor or service from; keep busy 
or employed: as, lie trork.s his horses too hard. 
Cntil the year 1820, the people [in Great Britain] had 
been forbidden to combine. Their only power against 
employers who rrorked them as many hours a day as they 
dart'd, and paiil them wages as small as they couM, who 
tix)k their children and locked them up in unwholesmne 
factories, was in combination, and they were fort>idden 
to combine. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 80. 
16. To solve: as, to work a sum in arithmetic 
or a pr(iblem in algebra. [Collo<j.] — 17. To 
cause to ferment: said of anything which is put 
into a liquid for that purpose. — To work an ob- 
servation. See ohsermtion. To work a traverse. 
See tratvrse sailing, under sailing.- To work In. (a) To 
intermix, as one material with another, in the pntcessof 
manufacture or the like : weave or stir in : a.s. Ih; worked 
the good yarn in with the bad, (b) To cause to enter or 
penetrat*; by repeated ejfitrts : as, the wire was slowly 
worked in. — To work into. (") To introduce artfully; 
insinuate : as, he easily w»rks himself into confidence by 
work * 
his plausibility, (b) To change or alter by gradual process 
or influence. 
This imperious man will work us all 
From princes into pages. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 2. 47. 
To work off, to get rid of ; free or be freed from, or from 
the etfects of; discharge; evacuate: as, to ivork of the 
effects of a debauch.— To Work one's passage, to give 
one's work or services as an equivalent for passage- money. 
— To work one's will. See wiU^.—To work out. («) 
To eifect or procure by continued labor or exertion ; ac- 
complish. 
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Phil, ii. 12. 
Who can hide, 
When the malicious Fates are bent 
On working out an ill intent? 
Wordsworth, The Waggoner, iv. 
lift your natures up : 
Embrace our aims : work out your freedom. 
Tennyson, IMncess, ii. 
(6) To elaborate; develop; reduce to order ; study out. 
She [Italy] did not work out the basilican type for her- 
self ; she left it to others to do that for her, and conse- 
quently never perfectly understood what she undertook 
or why it was tfone, J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 428. 
The minerals, which are now in the British Museum, 
were worked out by Mr. Davies of that establishment. 
Amer. Joiir. Set., 3d ser., XLI. 406. 
(c) To solve, aa a problem. 
Mai. M,— Malvolio; M, — why. that begins my name — 
Fab. Did not I say he would work it oiit ? 
Shak., T. N., ii. 5. 139. 
(rf) To erase ; efface; remove. 
Tears of joy, for your returning spilt, 
Work out and expiate our former guilt. 
Dryden, Astriea Redux, 1. 275. 
(e) To exhaust: as,to?rorA-OH(amineorqnarry.— To work 
out a day's work {naut), to compute a ship's position 
from the lourse and distance sailed. — To work the twig. 
See ((a'i^i. — To WOrk up. (a) To excite ; stir up ; raise ; 
rouse. 
It is no very hard Matter to work up a heated and devout 
Imagination to the Fancy of Raptures and Ecstasies and 
Mystical Tnions. Stillingjleet, Sermons, III. iii. 
We cannot but tremble to consider what we are capa- 
ble of being wrought up to, against all the ties of nature, 
love, honour, reason, and religion. Steele, Tatler, No. 172. 
They [the Moslems] work themselves up to such agonies 
of rage and lamentation that some, it is said, have given 
up the ghost from the mere etfect of mental excitement. 
Macaiday, Lord Olive. 
(&) To use up in tlie process of manufacture or the like ; 
expend in any work : as, we have worked up all our mate- 
rials. 
The industry of the people works up all their native 
commodities to the last degree of manufacture. Swift. 
(c) To expand ; enlarge ; elaborate: as, txiwork up a story 
or an article from a few hints. 
We have read of "Handkerchief Moody," who for some 
years persisted in always appearing among men with his 
face covered with a handkerchief — an incident which 
Hawthorne has ivorked up in his weird manner into the 
story of "The Minist^T with the Black Veil." 
. //. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 4fi4. 
(d) To master by careful study or research : as, to work up 
a theme, (e) to achieve or attain by special elfort : as, 
to work up a reputation for one's self. (/) Xavt, to dis- 
cipline or punish by setting at an unnecessary or hateful 
job, like scraping the anchor*chain. Such a piece of work 
is called a working -up job. — To WOrk water. See the 
quotation. 
Water is also frequently carried over fiom the boiler 
with the steam. When this occurs the boiler is said to 
prime, or to work water. Forney, Locomotive, p. 170. 
work (wei-k), )t. [< ME. trork, iccrk, ivurc, wore, 
were, weore, < AS. weore, wore, were = OS. 
OFries. 1). werk = LG. work = OHO. wcrch, 
irerah, MHG. were, G. tverk = leel. Sw. iwrk = 
Dan. ra^'rk = Goth, ffa-waurki ; ef. Gr. Fpyor, 
work: see work, v.] 1. Effort or exertion di- 
rected to the aceonii>lishment of some purpose 
or end; expenditure of strength, energy, etc.; 
toil; labor; striving. 
Fie upon this quiet life 1 I want work. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 118. 
Man hath his daily work of body or mind 
.\ppointed. Milton, P. U, iv. 618. 
Here, work enough to watch 
The Master work, and catch 
Hints of the proper craft. 
Browning, Kabbi Hen Ezra. 
2. Oiiportunity of expending labor (phyHical 
or mental) in some useful orremunerative way. 
espeoially as a means of earning a livelihood ; 
employment: something to do: as, tobeoutof 
trork; to look for work. — 3. That upon which 
one is employed or engaged, and in the aceoni- 
plishment of whieh labor is expended or some 
operation pei'formed; a task, undertaking, en- 
terprise, or project. 
If it would please Him whose u'orke. it is to direct me to 
speake such a word over the sea as the good old woman 
of Abel did over the wall in the like exigent. 
A'. Ward, Simple Colder, p. Z:i. 
The great wcn-k of erectuig a way of worshipping of 
Christ in church fellowship. 
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. ICtl. 
