| 释义 |
▪ I. † job, n.1 Obs.
[Of unascertained origin; some have thought it an assibilated form of gob n.1; but, beside the phonetic difficulty, the approximation of sense is only distant.]
1. A small compact portion of some substance; a piece, lump; a stump, block; a tassel.
c1400Destr. Troy 11941 Robbet þere Riches..Gemmes, & Iewels, Iobbes of gold. 1587Golding De Mornay xii. 210 Sometimes [God] letteth vs goe alone by our selues..and then stumble we at the next iob yt we meete with. 1659E. Burrough Reign Whore 11 Why must you have a soft Cushion with silken Jobs at the corners to lean on?
2. A cart-load, or what a horse and cart can bring at one time.[It is not clear whether the essential notion is that of the mass or amount carried by a cart, or that of which the carrying constitutes a single job. In the latter case this would belong rather to job n.2, and might perh. be the link uniting the two words.] 1560Stanford Church-w. Acc. in Antiquary (1888) Apr. 168 For faching a Jobbe of thorns and mending the hedges aboute the churche howsse xd. 1571Ibid. 170 For iij Jobbs of Strawe and the Caryage vijs. iiijd. [Cf. Jobbel, Jobbet, a small load, generally of hay or straw: widely used in Midland and Southern dialects.]
▪ II. job, n.2|dʒɒb|
Also 7–8 jobb.
[Of obscure origin: prob. in colloquial use some time before it appeared in literature. Possibly connected with prec., sense 2.]
1. a. A piece of work; esp. a small definite piece of work done in the way of one's special occupation or profession.
a1627Middleton Mayor Quinborough iv. i, I cannot read, I keep a Clark to do those jobbs for need. 1688New Jersey Archives (1881) II. 29 Old Smith I keep doeing jobs vp and down. 1721Bailey, Jobb, a small Piece of Work. 1726Swift Corr. Wks. 1841 II. 583, I am strongly tempted to send a parcel to be printed..and make a ninepenny job for the bookseller. 1798Bloomfield Farmer's Boy i. 56 He..never lack'd a job for Giles to do. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. xxxiv, Carpenter whom you have..entreated to come himself for the purpose of doing a variety of jobs. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. v. 108 This, you see, was a pretty long job, and a profitable one, she says. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. iii. (1878) 36 Well, well, Rogers, Simmons shall have the job.
b. Thieves' slang. A theft or robbery; any criminal deed, esp. one definitely arranged beforehand.
1722De Foe Moll Flanders (1840) 224 It was always reckoned a safe job when we heard of a new shop. 1800W. B. Rhodes Bomb. Fur. i. (1830) 11, I knocked him down, then snatch'd it from his fob, Watch, Watch, he cried, when I had done the job. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxiii, I thought the job was clayed over and forgotten. 1884Public Opinion 5 Sept. 301/1 He..found..stolen property sufficient to connect the thief with several ‘jobs’.
c. Printing. A small piece of work of the miscellaneous kind, as the printing of posters, handbills, cards, etc.
1795Let. of Compositors of London in E. Howe London Compositor (1947) i. 76 That all jobs, not exceeding one sheet, be paid at the rate of six pence per thousand. 1800in J. Johnson Typogr. II. 578 That every article under one sheet be considered a job. Ibid., All jobs in foreign languages to be paid sevenpence halfpenny per thousand. 1810Ibid. 582 Jobs of one sheet or under (except Auctioneers' Catalogues and Particulars) to be cast up at sevenpence per thousand. 1841W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 428 Any thing which printed does not exceed a sheet, is termed a Job, and is paid for extra to the compositor, because there is no return of furniture or of letter: he has generally to put up fresh cases, and has some additional trouble in getting the right letter, and in making up the furniture. 1960P. M. Handover Printing in London vii. 183 In general, however, both the Bagford and Johnson Collections [sc. of ephemera] reveal that during the eighteenth century the letterpress printers made little effort to extend the range of jobs.
d. Phr. by the job.
1733Berkeley Let. to Tom Prior 1 May in Fraser Life (1871) 207, I do not design to hire one [gardener]..but only employ him by the job. 1792Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes Condol. Wks. 1812 III. 108, I thank my stars, I am not like the Mob Whom Nature fabricated by the job. 1865Livingstone Zambesi xviii. 351 The teacher said he was paid by the job.
2. A piece of work, or transaction, done for hire, or with a special view to profit.
1660Pepys Diary 2 June, I will do you all the good jobs I can. 1664Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. App 119 Workmen, who from..some lucky jobb (as they call it) do generally ingrosse all the work they can hear of. 1727–38Gay Fables ii. xiii, Then marriage (as of late profest) Is but a money job at best. 1778The Saints 4 Their Faith's a Dream, their Preaching but a Job. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. viii. 56 You see Mr. Haley's a puttin' us in a way of a good job, I reckon.
3. a. A public service or trust turned to private gain or party advantage; a transaction in which duty or the public interest is sacrificed for the sake of private or party advantage. jobs for the boys: see boy n.1 6 d.
1667Pepys Diary 10 Apr., It [Tangier] hath been hitherto..used as a jobb to do a kindness to some Lord. 1724Swift Drapier's Lett. iii. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 46, I never can suppose, that such patents..were originally granted with a view of being a jobb for the interest of a particular person to the damage of the publick. 1735Pope Donne Sat. iv. 142 Who makes a Trust or Charity a Job, And gets an Act of Parliament to rob. 1769Junius Lett. vii. 31 It would have been more decent in you to have called this dishonourable transaction by its true name; a job, to accommodate two persons. 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. x. (ed. 11) 171 If Ireland is gone, where are jobs? where are reversions? 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. lxxxvi. 153 Even when jobs are exposed by the press, each particular job seems below the attention of a busy people.
†b. Personal profit; private interest. Obs.
1661Baxter Mor. Prognost. i. xcv. 24 Those dangerous Extreams, that seem to serve some present Exigence and Jobb. 1785Burke Sp. Nabob Arcot Wks. IV. 275 Territories, on the keeping of which..the defence of our dominions, and, what was more dear to them, possibly, their own job, depended.
4. a. Anything one has to do; a ‘business’, affair, operation, transaction, matter to be done. spec. a paid position of employment, a situation (sense 6 b).
1694R. L'Estrange Fables cccxxxii. (ed. 6) 345 A Widow..had a Twittering towards a second husband: and she took a Gossiping Companion of hers to her Assistance, how to Manage the Jobb. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, I've had a hard job to find my way back. 1858in Amer. Speech (1965) XL. 130 But when he gets a good fat job For dat am all he cares. a1861T. Winthrop Edwin Brothertoft (1862) 38, I will find you a fat job and plenty of pickings! 1879Browning Martin Relph xvii, 'Tis an ugly job: but soldiers obey commands. 1883[see fat a. 9 b]. 1889R. S. S. Baden-Powell Pigsticking 49 To drive them out is naturally a very difficult job. Ibid. 80, I was carried into camp and my wounds sewn up and dressed, a job which took nearly four hours. 1931Daily Express 13 Oct. 5/2 When I got my job as social secretary..I got a large salary and lived in luxury. 1940G. D. H. & M. Cole Counterpoint Murder xv. 237 He was in the same job up to about a week ago. 1974New Statesman 17 May 701/3 After the Tory general election defeat of 1964, the outgoing Chancellor of the Exchequer..told a newspaper gossip writer: I shall have to get a job and earn some money.
b. Phr. to do the job for, or to do (a person's) job: (a) to do what is required by him; (b) slang, to ‘do for’, ruin, destroy; to make a job of: to transact or manage successfully; bad job: a thing on which labour is spent in vain, a failure (see also 5 below); job of work: a task, piece of work; to have a job (to): to have difficulty (in doing something); similarly, to be a job: to present difficulties; also, (to be) the devil's (own) job; to get on with the job [get v. 63 f], to proceed with one's work, to continue with one's affairs; just the job (colloq.): exactly what is wanted, the very thing.
1557in A. Feuillerat Documents Revels Court Ed. VI & Q. Mary (1914) 236 Doinge certen Iobbes of woorke. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. xli. (1737) 165 The Sausage's Job being done. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xviii, Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep there,..they had done the job for us. 1855Motley Corr. (1889) I. vi. 172, I should not like him to read it till he can do it all at once, and make a job of it. 1862Borrow Wild Wales I. xix. 210 The minister of the parish..had frequently entered into argument with him, but quite unsuccessfully and had at last given up the matter, as a bad job. 1865H. Kingsley Hillyars & Burtons lxix, He had given up religion as a bad job. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. ix, Bella..heaved a little sigh, and gave up things in general for a bad job. 1873Trollope Eustace Diamonds I. xix. 252 Arthur did not go on the search, because he had a job of work to do. Ibid. III. lxxii. 251 The barrister who will have the cross-examining of her..will have a job of work on his hand. 1878[see coast v. 14]. 1887G. H. Devol Forty Yrs. a Gambler 267 For ten or fifteen years during my early life, the sporting men of the South tried to find a man to whip me, but they couldn't do it, and finally gave it up as a bad job. 1907J. M. Synge Tinker's Wedding i. 1 It's the divil's job making a ring. 1922F. H. Burnett Robin xviii. 154 ‘You propose to suggest that she shall marry you?’..‘Yes. It will be the devil's own job..she has abhorred me all her life.’ 1928M. Walsh While Rivers Run xx. 279 ‘A sound job of work!’ boasted Alistair. ‘We have arriven.’ 1931A. Huxley Let. 24 Aug. (1969) 351 It has been a job writing the book and I'm glad it's done. 1931‘P. Williams’ Word of To-morrow iv. xvi. 263 Tramps..who wouldn't do an honest job of work not if it was offered them. 1935Punch 21 Aug. 208/3, I had a job to find the meter, and I can't think why they want to hide it behind a table. 1941London Opinion June 48 (caption) I'll have a job explaining things to my wife. 1942‘A. Bridge’ Frontier Passage viii. 131 Why the hell couldn't all the extremists..allow sensible people..to get on with the job?—the job being to live the good life. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 42 Just the job, if you see anything that you like, whether it is something in a shop window or a new billet, this is what you say, meaning of course that it suits you all right. 1944R. Lehmann Ballad & Source 55 My riding lessons had been given up as a bad job. 1959‘J. Ross’ Boy in Grey Overcoat ii. 21, I thought..she'd be just the job. 1960H. Pinter Dumb Waiter 148 Just the job. We should have used it before. 1966Listener 1 Sept. 300/2, I have had quite a job to get a copy [of a book]. 1969Ottawa Commons Debates 24 July 11570/2 If the opposition accords so little respect to parliament that it defines governing as evil, that getting on with the job is regarded as tyranny, then I am happy to be given the chance to join issue. 1973E. Page Fortnight by Sea ix. 98 If Mrs Barratt could possibly see her way to letting us stay on..it really would be just the job.
c. A consignment of goods to be sold cheaply as bargains, a job lot.
1858Illustr. News World I. 257/3 Butcher's meat, the week's gathering, to be sold by the job. 1905Daily Chron. 18 Nov. 3/7 As soon as a girl can do a corset, which is at all passable, even if we have to put it into the ‘jobs’—that is, lots for selling cheap—she can earn much more.
d. on the job: (a) hard at work, busy (also in extended senses, committing a crime, engaged in sexual intercourse, etc.); (b) (of a racehorse) out to win and well backed; (c) = by the job (sense 1 d); (d) used as attrib. phr. (hyphenated): done or occurring while a person is at work.
1882W. Burnot Old Mother Goose iii. 12 He will have to hide his nob. Come along, we're on the job. a1889in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1889) I. 502/1 Trainers and jockeys..very easily gathered whether a particular horse..was ‘out for an airing’ or was on the job. 1890Lloyd George Let. 7 Aug. (1973) 32, I am on the job Saturday or Monday. 1891Licensed Victuallers' Gaz. 23 Jan. (Farmer & Henley), There was a long wrangle over the choice of referee, for no one cared to occupy that thankless post when the Lambs were on the job. 1892E. J. Milliken 'Arry Ballads 3 'Arry is fair on the job. 1901To-Day 22 Aug. 115/1 ‘This cook..is very good.’ ‘She is, but she is only here on the job.’ 1909Post & Paddock 22 Nov. 1/3 Their denunciations of horses ‘not trying’, being ‘out for an airing’, or ‘not on the job’ on every occasion when their speculations go wrong. 1914G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. iv. 22 She was ‘on the job’ every minute until the cottage was ‘on wheels’. 1922Joyce Ulysses 466 Mother Slipperslapper. (Familiarly.) She's on the job herself tonight with the vet. 1922N. & Q. 9 Sept. 206/2 To be ‘on the job’ is for a horse to be ‘busy’, to be ‘out’, i.e., backed and trying. 1937Burlington Mag. June p. xxvi/1 The slippery pickpocket is depicted ‘on the job’. 1947[see biotechnology]. 1958Times 24 Mar. (Careers in Industry Suppl.) p. vi/4 Everyone should receive the training appropriate to his particular aptitude—which may range from the on-the-job training to a university course. 1966‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 78 On ther job: engaged in sexual intercourse. 1971Optometry Today 17 On-the-job accidents and injuries could be appreciably reduced if every worker had maximum visual efficiency for the task at hand. 1972Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 16 Nov. 94/3 ‘Why the hell did you play Eric Clapton's Easy Now?..Didn't you realise it was all about some guy on the job?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. How many songs aren't?’ 1973Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 243 This approach..falls short of giving the reader an accurate idea of the large role that railroad language plays in on-the-job communication.
e. A commission to back a racehorse; so, a horse on which such bets are placed.
1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 502/1 ‘He has got the job’, he has the putting on of the stable money. 1907Favourite 16 Nov. 9/2 Elfin Revel was a big starting-price job for the Croxteth Plate. 1911Turf 10 Oct. 1/1, I am not now referring to s.p. jobs.
f. colloq. A term of wide application, often with suggestions of excellence, to describe something, esp. something manufactured (as a motor vehicle, aircraft, etc.); also joc. of persons, esp. a pretty girl.
1927D. Hammett in Black Mask May 14/2 She's a tough little job who was probably fired for dropping her chewing gum in the soup the last place she worked. 1928Daily Mail 7 May 6/4 [U.S. slang] A job, always used when a particular aeroplane is mentioned. 1930‘A. Armstrong’ Taxi xii. 164 The fare is ‘the rider’ or ‘the job’. 1930Engineering 18 July 79/3 The motorship press would hail with delight the figures given..as showing the fuel cost of Diesel engines to be almost half that of any of the steam jobs. 1938Harper's Mag. Jan. 141/2 There was an antiquated high-wing monoplane job. 1939Ottawa Jrnl. 25 July 7/3 He was just about to sit down to a good breakfast in Texas opposite a young woman who was a first class job. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §81.2 Automobile,..job. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 23 The bath was a limited affair: a quick sponge job from a gallon or so of warm water. 1942Gen 1 Sept. 12/2 A ‘ropey job’ is likely as not to be a blonde who proved uncollaborative. 1946Brickhill & Norton Escape to Danger v. 50 A rather imposing moustache. It was one of those bushy black jobs. 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident i. 2 It [sc. a chronometer] was one of those super Swiss jobs. 1964‘A. Gilbert’ Knock, knock, who's There? i. 9 You make good contacts in a pub... There was a job called the Admiral Box where I'd never been. 1972G. Lyall Blame the Dead xvii. 117 The only desk was Steen's own oiled-teak job. 1973Daily Tel. 22 June 9 (Advt.), Its suspension's almost identical to that of a {pstlg}2,966 Mercedes 220. (Not to mention a few other equally pricey jobs.)
5. An ‘affair’, ‘business’, occurrence, state of things: esp. in good job, bad job, a fortunate or unfortunate event, fact, or condition of affairs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Badjob, an ill bout, bargain, or business. 1802Stephenson in Naval Chron. VII. 49 It would be a bad job. 1859Lang Wand. India 404 ‘We are, unfortunately, very much in debt.’ ‘That's a bad job’, said my Lord. 1876W. S. Gilbert Trial by Jury ad fin., So we've finished with the job, And a good job too! 1886Fenn Master Cerem. vii, It is a jolly good job the old woman is dead. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge (Tauchn.) II. xxvii. 281 She would make the best of a bad job. 1923Spectator 9 June 972/2 The novel ends, therefore, with Derek making the best of a bad job. 1930J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement ii. 65 Girls are a bit silly..and it's a good job for the men they are. 1942Punch 9 Sept. 215 (caption) It's a good job that pig-headed old fool of a farmer ignored our instructions, or we'd have been running on ploughed land. 1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party ii. 111 Edward: Lavinia, we must make the best of a bad job. That is what he means. Reilly:..The best of a bad job is all any of us make of it.
†6. Short for job-carriage, job-horse: see 7. Obs.
1808Sporting Mag. XXXI. 10 It happens..that the horses are only Jobs. 1819Moore Tom Crib 10 C—nn—g came in a job. 1863Sat. Rev. 361 Those jobs which the Most Noble Master of the Horse thought fit to harness to the shabby landau which held the future King and Queen of England.
7. attrib. and Comb. Hired or used, not in the way of constant employment, but by the job or particular piece of work, or for a limited time; as job-carriage, job-coach, job-coachman, job-doctor, job-gardener, job-horse; (now chiefly in sense 4), as job assessment, job assignment, job centre, job content, job-counselling, job definition, job description, job discrimination, job displacement, job enlargement, job enrichment, job evaluation, job-hungry adj., job hygiene, job insecurity, job mobility, job opportunity, job placement, job reservation, job-rich adj., job rotation, job satisfaction, job security, job-seeking, job situation, job specification, job structuring, job study. Also job analysis, analysis of the essential factors of a particular piece of work and the necessary qualifications of the person who is to perform it; so job analyst; job book (see quot.); job-broking, dealing in jobs; job-buyer, one who buys job lots; job case (Printing), a type case used in job printing with boxes for both upper- and lower-case types; Job Corps U.S., ‘an organization..that operates rural conservation camps and urban training centers for poor youths’ (Random House Dict.); job creation, the provision of new opportunities for paid employment, esp. as part of a policy to provide work for those who are currently unemployed; also attrib.; so job-creating vbl. n. and ppl. a.; job fount, font (Printing), see quots. 1888, 1894; job-hopping, the act or practice of changing from one job to another; so job-hop v. intr.; job-hopper; job house (Printing), = job-office; job lot, a lot or parcel of goods, of sundry kinds or qualities, bought as a speculation with a view to profit; hence applied depreciatively to any miscellaneous lot of things, persons, etc.; job note (see quot.); job-office (Printing), an office at which only job-work is done (see 1 c); job press (Printing), a small press designed for job-printing; job-price, (a) a price paid for things hired or work done by the job; (b) a price paid for things bought as a job lot; job-print, -printing, the printing of job-work (see sense 1 c); so job-printer; job sharing, a working arrangement in which two or more people are employed on a part-time basis to perform a job which would otherwise have been available only to a person able to work full-time, and share the renumeration and other benefits; hence (as a back-formation) job-share v. intr., to be employed under such an arrangement; also as n., job-sharing; an instance of this; job-sharer; job sheet, a sheet on which are recorded details of a job that has been done; job shop, (a) a workshop where small pieces of work are performed; (b) = job-office; (c) (see quot. 1972); job-type, type (of a special or ornamental kind) used in job-work; job watch (Naut.) = hack-watch, hack n.3 6; job-work, (a) work done and paid for by the job; piece-work; (b) the printing of jobs (sense 1 c).
1923J. D. Hackett in Managem. Engin. May, *Job analysis, the determination of the essential factors in a specific kind of work and of the qualifications of a worker necessary for its competent performance. 1929Encycl. Brit. XIII. 78/2 This ‘questionnaire method’ has received severe condemnation from scientists and should be used sparingly by investigators in the field of job analysis. 1962H. C. Weston Light, Sight & Work (ed. 2) viii. 239 This is subsequently fitted to a job visual standards profile based on the results of job-analysis.
1946R. H. Warnhoff Automobile Accessory Industry 18 *Job analyst. Performs detailed job analysis and job evaluation studies. 1971State Service Nov. 340/2 The job analyst..assesses the post.
1959Gloss. Terms Work Study (B.S.I.) 26 *Job assessment, the process of ascertaining the relative value of a job by examination of the job analysis and job description.
1964G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? i. 17 Through *job-assignment, nurses gain expertise but also become frustrated.
1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. 487 By means of a *Job Book, an Employer or Overseer will be enabled..to discover not only every charge that had been made upon a Job, but also for whom, the number printed, and the size and description, together with the full charge.
1701De Foe Freeholder's Plea in Misc. (1703) 178 That the Scandalous Mechanick Upstart Mistery of *job-broking should thus grow upon the Nation.
1903Daily Chron. 7 Oct. 10/1 E. H...described as a ‘*Job buyer’.
1805Naval Chron. XIII. 183 The horses to be put to the *job carriage which he used.
1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 308/2 *Job case, a lower case condensed into two-thirds of its usual width, half of the boxes in the upper case being placed by its side. 1946A. Monkman in H. Whetton Pract. Printing & Binding ii. 20/1 The two best double cases are the California Job Case..and the Improved Double Case. 1972Jrnl. Printing Hist. Soc. 1971 VII. 39 By 1860 the full size job case was generally available as a printers' supplier's stock item on both sides of the Atlantic.
1972Times 8 Sept. 15/1 Forget about the Government employment exchanges..think about the bright, new offices with a new image and a sign outside saying *job centre. 1973Guardian 23 May 6/4 Britain's first Job Centre will be opened this afternoon. Job Centres are the modern version of what have..been called employment exchanges or..labour exchanges.
1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 461 Some were in *job-coaches, at two guineas a day.
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour iii. 9 He condescended to take a place as *job coachman in a livery-stable.
1969J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 153 The use of a computer to analyse trends in *job content.
1965Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 3 Feb. (1970) 234 Dr. Otis Singletary..director of the *Job Corps..says that applications to join are coming in about six thousand a day. 1965Economist 4 Sept. 884/1 Over forty of the Job Corps centres are already in operation.
1970Times 1 June 9/1 The separation of benefit from *job counselling.
1962Economist 19 May 688/2 More ‘*job-creating’ projects were approved than during all of the previous six months. 1976Time 20 Dec. 42/2 Both advocated spending of an additional $5 billion by the government on job-creating programs. 1985Times 18 Apr. 16/7 Getting job-creating small businesses going.
1973E. F. Schumacher Small is Beautiful iii. 195 What proportion of national income..can one reasonably expect to be available for the establishment of this capital fund for *job creation? 1976Ann. Rep. Manpower Services Comm. 1975–76 iii. 23/1 On 24 September, as part of a package of measures designed to alleviate unemployment, the Government provided {pstlg}30 million for the implementation of a job creation scheme. 1986Tribune 12 Sept. 3/1 Labour-controlled local councils are making detailed plans for job creation by local authorities.
1967A. Battersby Network Analysis (ed. 2) iv. 68 It will always be more convenient to go on using existing *job-definitions for which data on performance and cost are already known.
1951J. M. Fraser Psychol. ii. xi. 126 Once we have drawn up a complete and realistic description of a job we can work out from it a specification of the kind of person who is likely to do it satisfactorily. It is very important that..each quality laid down in it should be linked with some aspect of the actual duties shown in the *job description. 1972Accountant 28 Sept. 385/1 Essential records are..those for employee turnover, performance appraisals, dynamic job descriptions/specifications.
1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 297 A protest against *job discrimination.
1964*Job displacement [see across prep. 2 c].
1835Court Mag. VI. 207/1 A *job-doctor, or one whose engagement is likely to terminate with a particular service.
1954Time 12 Apr., *Job enlargement (a phrase coined by Yale's Human Relations Expert Charles R. Walker) was formally born in 1943. On a trip through International Business Machine Corp.'s plant at Endicott, N.Y., I.B.M. President (now Chairman) Thomas J. Watson spotted a young woman standing idly by a milling machine. She explained that she was waiting for the ‘machine inspector’ (there was a ‘setup man’, whose task it was to adjust the machine for each new operation, and an inspector, who okayed the adjustment). Actually, she was able to adjust the machine herself, but it was against the plant rules to do so.
1966T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. ii. 32 It might well be possible to look at individual jobs to see whether it is possible to make them less rigidly paced and repetitive and not lose output, by ‘*job enlargement’ for example.
1972Listener 7 Sept. 301/1 A growing interest in the idea of work-structuring or ‘*job enrichment’.
1957Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 272/1 Where *job evaluation wage rate systems prevail jobs are analyzed and defined in terms of basic attributes and requirements. 1973Times 17 Jan. 13/3 Some techniques that until recently were virtually unheard of in the [hotel] industry are now beginning to make their appearance, such as job evaluation and formal performance appraisals.
1888C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 68 *Job fount, a small fount of type used for displaying purposes. 1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 308/2 Job font, a small font of type used for display, distinct from a book font. 1972Jrnl. Printing Hist. Soc. 1971 VII. 39 A more efficient use of the full size case in accommodating the caps, figures and points only job fonts came with the devising of the treble case.
1883‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 30 Contenting ourselves with the services of a ‘*job gardener’..whose crops were always late and poor.
1970Time 19 Jan. 43 He *job-hopped, serving briefly as operating vice president of Servo-mechanisms Inc. and later organizing his own law firm in Los Angeles.
1967Time 13 Oct. 63 Boyden's prospects are rarely aware that Boyden is aware of them as potential *job hoppers.
1953Britannica Bk. of Year 639/2 *Job-hopping, a policy of changing jobs so as to place a higher value on one's services. 1972Times 22 Sept. 22/6 Increased job-hopping tendencies among young male graduates.
1790H. M. Williams Julia II. xxii. 51 You had *job horses. 1849Thackeray Pendennis xxxiv, The sight of Dr. Slocum's large carriage, with the gaunt job-horses, crushed Flora.
1825T. C. Hansard Typographia 700 But, that it [sc. a kind of printing machine] could be introduced into a book-work house, or even a *job-house, to execute all the variety of sizes of works and pages, was a thing which I could never believe. 1841W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 428 Job house, a printing office, the general run of business in which is the printing of Jobs; namely, cards, shop bills,..play bills,..and all other things of a similar description. 1888C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 68 Job house, a term applied to printing offices distinct from book or newspaper offices. 1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 309/1 Job house, a term applied in England to printing-offices where the chief kind of work done is in jobs.
1946*Job-hungry [see gadget 2].
1966T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. iii. 63 Good environmental conditions—so called ‘*job hygiene’, i.e. good welfare facilities, meals, lighting, heating, good mates.
1959Listener 25 June 1095/2 The very notion of a *job insecurity..is alien to the Russians.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 272 Some few of them [pocket-books] may, however, have been damaged, and these are bought by the street-people as a ‘*job lot’, and at a lower price. 1864Reader 3 Dec. 707/3 Called ‘job lots’, because the articles included in them are not resold in the state in which they were purchased, but jobbed away, or, in other words, sold to different customers, as opportunity may offer. 1879Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 26. 16 Job lots of paper and job lots of leather and sometimes old covers. 1891Law Times XC. 395/1 Defendant..saw two cows belonging to Kidd among a job lot of cattle.
1966I. Jefferies House-Surgeon iii. 26 Rosalind..was used to even more *job-mobility than most people would regard as desirable. 1972Accountant 12 Oct. 441/2 To cope with the problems presented by job mobility it was proposed to concentrate employees' records in ten computer centres.
1803in Naval Chron. XV. 58 What is the nature of a *job note? It is..an actual statement of the work performed by job and task, with the prices of the labour set against each article.
1882T. MacKellar Amer. Printer (ed. 13) 301 A useful thing to have in a *job office is Ame's Paper and Card Scale. 1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 309/2 Job office, a printing-house where the chief work is in jobs.
1971Wall St. Jrnl. 22 July iv. 1/1 While thousands of 1971 graduates pound the pavements in pursuit of jobs, an exclusive little group here has found alluring *job opportunities popping up on all sides.
1963New Society 7 Nov. 7/2 The private employment agencies, who handle a lucrative *job-placement business.
1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 309/2 *Job press, a press on which job-work is done. It is, however, in practice usually limited to the treadle-machines, which do not print a sheet larger than 14 or 15 by 21 [inches]. 1936Greenhood & Gentry Chronol. Bks. & Printing (rev. ed.) 111, 1850..Gordon of New York is awarded a patent for first ‘job’ press. 1971R. W. & E. W. Polk Pract. Printing (ed. 7) xv. 115 Most of the small presses for general job work are of the platen type. These presses are often classified as job presses.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 12 Mr. Buckram's *job price, we should say, was as near twelve pounds a month,..as he could screw, the hirer, of course, keeping the animals. 1886Daily News 26 July 2/5 Home buyers..not infrequently supply their wants from accumulated stocks at ‘job’ prices.
1921C. E. Mulford Bar-20 Three vi. 77 A hard-riding courier, relaying twice, carried the work of the *job-print toward Mesquite.
1884J. Gould Letter-Press Printer (ed. 3) 132 For *job-printers the small platen machines are invaluable. 1960P. M. Handover Printing in London vii. 194 Without the lavish production of publicity material fashionable since the second world war many job printers would be unable to meet the necessary cost of new machines and the rising cost of labour and rent.
1825New Lisbon (Ohio) Patriot 29 Oct. 1/4 *Job Printing, Neatly and expeditiously done at this office. 1859Abridgments of Specifications relating to Printing (Patent Office) 365 The main object of this invention is to carry on ‘job printing’..without the necessity of employing skilled labour. 1892A. Powell Southward's Pract. Printing (ed. 4) xxix. 266 Bookwork is almost always executed in black ink; while in job printing any colour is permissible. 1924Southward's Mod. Printing (ed. 5) I. Job Design Suppl. 2 (following p. 336), Fine book and job printing a speciality. 1960P. M. Handover Printing in London viii. 196 As job printing in London followed a course separate from that of periodicals,..so the course of book printing was equally distinct.
1969Times 19 Nov. 30/2 Some form of *job reservation [in South Africa] imposed either by legislation or custom will persist for some time to come. 1971Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. 4/3 Sir Francis de Guingand..said he found job reservation difficult to understand.
1972Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 6 May 39/1 Industrialized and *job-rich Morgan City.
1963R. Stewart Reality of Management ii. vii. 119 The companies which use *job rotation as a conscious policy are likely to have a general policy of moving people in their early years and later to practise selective job rotation.
1955Brayfield & Crockett in Psychol. Bull. LII. 397/1 We have not attempted to define such terms as *job satisfaction or morale. Instead, we have found it necessary to assume that the measuring operations define the variables involved. 1972Accountant 21 Sept. 346/1 Prinny..would attend the first course to assess its suitability in terms of personal job-satisfaction.
1959Listener 25 June 1095/1 A number of other attitudes towards *job security.
1972Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 6 May 39/1 *Job-seeking itself can be costly.
1972Guardian 22 July 1/8 The report will ask for a massive injection of Government money into the docks industry{ddd}There [were]..also proposals for *job-sharing schemes.
1981Job-sharing (Equal Opportunities Commission) 8 A small survey of *job-sharers known to the Commission was carried out in January 1980. Ibid. 18 If I hadn't been able to job-share, I'd have left the job.
1982Computerworld 8 Nov. 11/2 One programmer/analyst may prefer coding while his *job-share partner may prefer the design aspects of the job. 1985Marketing Mag. (N.Z.) July 44/3 Maybe the concept of job sharing on a major scale..will make increasing sense. 1987New Musical Express 14 Feb. 15/4 What is wrong with the world? This is job-share schemes gone mad!
1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard v. 116 The ambulance crew which we met on the way are in Sister's office drinking tea and filling out their *job-sheets. 1974‘J. Ross’ Burning of Billy Toober xvi. 149 Completing job sheets and questionnaires.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. xl. 233 When I kept my *job-shop in the Vineyard. 1963Times 15 Feb. 7/1 The west coast and international editions of the New York Times are printed in ‘job shops’, commercial printing offices working on a contract basis. 1967Electronics 6 Mar. 28 (Advt.), Whether you have an in-plant plating operation or a job shop, we'll help you select a process. 1972Times 7 June 27/5 The Butts Centre..will feature a job shop—the officially approved title of a room full of advertising boards where people can browse.
1951J. M. Fraser Psychol. ii. xi. 120 We are confronted then with two variables, the job and the individual... Our task is to match up one with the other, to find the individual who will fit neatly into the *job situation.
1923J. D. Hackett in Managem. Engin. May, *Job specification, a record of the essential factors in a given piece of work and of the human qualifications necessary for its performance.
1970Times 11 May 9/1 The company has begun the groundwork for *job structuring.
1951J. M. Fraser Psychol. ii. xi. 128 The *job-study provides a complete factual description of the job and the conditions in which it is carried out.
1882T. MacKellar Amer. Printer (ed. 13) 304 Capitals and lower-case *job types should not be laid together in the same boxes. 1888Job type [see book type (book n. 19)]. 1892A. Powell Southward's Pract. Printing (ed. 4) viii. 53 Job types are laid in upper and lower cases, in double cases, or in half cases, according to the extent of the founts.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Job-watch, or Hack-watch, for taking astronomical sights, which saves taking the chronometer on deck or on shore to note the time.
1803R. Pering in Naval Chron. XV. 58, I conceive..*job work [in royal dockyards] to consist in pulling to pieces and repairing. 1832Reg. Deb. Congress U.S. 5 May 2766 The occasional advertising and job-work for the Government. 1859Abridgments of Specifications relating to Printing (Patent Office) 390 This invention relates to an arrangement of machinery intended chiefly for printing ‘job work’ with great expedition. 1887Jessopp Arcady vi. 176 Once or twice I had come upon him doing job-work for the small employers. 1892A. Powell Southward's Pract. Printing (ed. 4) xxix. 266 It is obvious that there is hardly any limit to the modes in which job work may be executed. 1948Words into Type 543 Job work, miscellaneous printing—all except newspaper, magazine, or book work. 1966Berry & Poole Ann. Printing 256/1 The extravagant style of American job work.
Add:[1.] e. Computing. An item of work (to be) performed by a computer; a set of programs and the data that they will operate on stored, forwarded, or executed as a unit.
1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting vii. 209 By far the most interesting development..has been the introduction of multi-programme machines, which can process a number of jobs at the same time. 1973C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. iv. 168 When a job is terminated, the scheduler uses the space for another job and puts the output on a work list for the output processor. 1989PC World Oct. 239/2 To prevent a printing traffic jam, the spooler stacks the print jobs in one or more queues and sends the files to one or more printers.
f. An operation involving cosmetic surgery, or the result of such an operation: as the second element in Combs., as breast job, nose job (see nose n. 18), etc. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1963T. Pynchon V iv. 95 Chapter four. In which Esther gets a nose job. 1978Washington Post 7 Dec. b1/3, I thought of this recently because of the flap over Betty Ford and her face job. She..had some of the creases ironed out of her neck. 1986Economist 20 Dec. 57 The faddish plastic surgery of the moment is the breast-job. 1989What Diet & Lifestyle Dec. 12/1 Lip-jobs are overtaking nose-jobs in the cosmetic surgery stakes in America, with some surgeons reporting doing between 25 and 80 lip jobs a month. 1990Sun 22 May 11/6 [The nurse], who had a boob job to boost her part-time modelling, has been sacked.
[7.] job club, in the U.K.: an organization set up either by a local community or by a Job Centre which aims to help the long-term unemployed find work, by offering encouragement and material support such as free postage and use of a telephone.
1985Financial Times 1 Oct. 9/1 A chain of 200 ‘*jobclubs’ is to be established by the end of next year to help the long-term unemployed. 1989Independent 17 Nov. 6/6 At the area's ‘job club’—set up in Accrington by local industry at the height of the recession to help long-term unemployed find jobs—only two of the 26 members are from Clitheroe. 1991Economist 5–11 Jan. 26/2 The government is getting much value for its money, he claims, from Jobclubs which offer the unemployed services such as free telephones and confidence-boosting sessions, but which eschew training.
job control language Computing, a language in which instructions may be written to control the running of jobs (sense *1 e).
1967E. R. Lannon in Cox & Grose Organiz. Bibliogr. Rec. by Computer iv. 82 The function of these programs is to determine which additional programs are required..and to insert into the Job Stream the required *Job Control Language to operate the same. 1972Barron & Jackson Software II. 173 The user of a sophisticated operating system is faced with..the necessity of learning a job control language or a command language in which to talk to the operating system. 1992Macworld Dec. 164/2 If you grew up with the mainframe world's Job Control Language (JCL), you might think of the Rosanne–AppleScript combination as a friendlier and more powerful JCL.
job stream Computing, a series of jobs awaiting processing.
1967E. R. Lannon in Cox & Grose Organiz. Bibliogr. Rec. by Computer iv. 82 The function of these programs is to determine which additional programs are required..and to insert into the *Job Stream the required Job Control Language to operate the same. 1989DEC Professional Nov. 172/2 Target-Batch is used to submit production jobs and job streams at pre-established dates and times with error..reports.
▸ orig. U.S. colloq. (euphem.). Excrement, a lump or piece of this; an act of defecation. Esp. in to do a job: to defecate. Cf. big job n. at big adj. and adv. Special uses 2.
The singer of the words in quot. ? 1942 assigns to them a date of 1892.
1899B. W. Green Word-bk. Virginia Folk-speech 204 Job... Do a job, to go to stool. 1942in V. Randolph & G. Legman Roll me in your Arms (1992) 66 Old woman got up to do a little job. 1970Foxfire Spring–Summer 85 He hadn't done his mornin' job, an' he just pulled his britches down an' set down in th'trail. 1990N. Baker Room Temperature (1991) x. 86 It was time to arrange two double-square lengths of toilet paper on the tiled floor..and..try..to labor out a small pebble of job so that it fell onto the toilet paper.
▸ job splitting n. the action or practice of dividing a job between two or more people (in quot. 1939 without official sanction); = job sharing n.
1939Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 18 Apr. 2 His proposal would protect them from possible legal action as a result of a John Doe investigation..into reports of assembly ‘*job-splitting’. 1964Times 26 Nov. 22/1 Every Ghanaian holding a senior staff appointment is trained for the job; there has been no artificial promotion or job-splitting. 1992Financial Post (Canada) 13 Apr. s27/3 Work sharing, or job splitting, involves two persons sharing a single position. 2003Irish Times (Nexis) 28 Feb. 58 This means introducing family-friendly work arrangements such as job-sharing, job-splitting, e-working and flexi-time.
▸ colloq. (orig. Brit.). to be more than one's job's worth: to be liable to cost one one's job.
Used esp. in the context of defending adherence to rules and regulations even at the expense of common sense: cf. jobsworth n.
1925Times 7 Jan. 8/1 (advt.) Clown. That is a bit of a snag, misery being your living. Pantaloon. If you've got ‘that Kruschen feeling’ you can't even act misery. So it's more than my job's worth to have it. 1974Sunday Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) 6 Jan. a2/3 ‘It's more than my job's worth to say anything at all,’ one guard said brusquely. 1991Photo Answers Mar. 46/2 Or when some bastard jobsworth comes up and says, ‘No, you can't do that, you can't do this, it's more than my job's worth.’ 2004H. Sounes Wicked Game v. 96 The cozy relationship between players and golf writers, who know it is more than their job is worth to highlight unseemly goings-on.
▪ III. job, n.3|dʒɒb|
Also 6–7 iobbe.
[f. job v.1]
An act of ‘jobbing’; an abrupt stab with the point or sharp end of anything; a peck, dab, thrust; a jerk or wrench of the bit in a horse's mouth.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 339 Nicholas Quercey toke the with his wife..and gaue the a iobbe with hys Dagger. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. ciii. 635 A iob with his beake is not so great a matter. 1607Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 198 With his contrary spur to giue him a good stroake or Iobbe to bring him with spirit againe into the managing path. 1611Cotgr., Vn rabat de bride, a iob, or checke which a horse giues himselfe with his bridle. 1885Eng. Illustr. Mag. Apr. 505 It requires a good job to drive the point of a large hook in beyond the barb.
†b. Comb. job-nut, name of a game in which hazel-nuts are perforated and strung through, in order to be knocked against each other: see cob-nut 2. Obs.
1659Lady Alimony ii. v. D ij b, All his games..Are yert-point, nine pins, job-nut, or span counter.
▪ IV. job, v.1|dʒɒb|
Also 5–7 iobbe, 7–8 jobb: see also jab.
[app. onomatopœic, expressing the sound or effect of an abruptly arrested stab.]
1. trans. To pierce to a small depth with a forcible but abruptly arrested action, as with the point of something; to peck, dab, stab, prod, punch; to hurt a horse's mouth with the bit; in pugilistic language, to strike with a sharp or cutting stroke.
c1490Promp. Parv. 36/1 (MS. K.) Byllen or iobbyn as bryddys (H., P. iobbyn with the byl), rostro. c1537Thersites in Four Old Plays (1848) 79 Jynkyn Jacon that iobbed iolye Jone. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. x. 130 Then caught he a boore speare..and as he laie iobbed him in with the staffe heade [iacentem pila transverberat]. 1741E. Smith Compl. Housew. (1750) 199 With a small bodkin job the oranges as they are boiling, to let the Syrup into them. 1818Sporting Mag. II. 189 He measured his distance accurately, and jobbed his adversary about the head. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxiii, He had ‘jobbed out’ the eye of one gentleman. 1860Reade Cloister & H. xxiv, He..drew his long knife, and..prepared to job the huge brute as soon as it should mount within reach. 1884Baring-Gould Mehalah v. 63 Let the horse go, but don't job his mouth in that way.
2. To thrust (something pointed) abruptly into something else. † to job faces, ludicrously used for ‘to kiss’ (obs.).
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 89 If peacock and turkey leaue iobbing their bex. 1600Heywood 1 Edw. IV, iii. i, What the dickens is it loue that makes ye prate to me so fondly? By my fathers soule, I would I had iobd faces with you. 1674J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 186 Two crooked bones growing upon the top of the heart, which as she bowed her body..would job their points into one and the same place. 1741Compl. Fam. Piece iii. 511 Immediately jobb a Penknife into the Throat. a1795Robin Hood & Maid Marian xiv. in Child Ballads (1888) III. v. cl. 219/2 With kind embraces, and jobbing of faces. 1845Stocqueler Hand-bk. Brit. India (1854) 337 In some parts of India our sportsmen throw the spear—in others they thrust or job it.
3. intr. To peck (at) as a bird; to thrust (at) so as to stab or pierce; to penetrate into.
1566Drury Let. to Cecil 27 Mar. (P.R.O., St. Pap. Dom., Borders II. 131 b), In Iobbying att hym [Rizzio] so meny att onse. 1579–80North Plutarch, Nicias 457 Upon that palm-tree sate certain crows many daies..and never left pecking and jobbing at the fruit of it. 1603Holland tr. Plutarch's Rom. Quest. (1892) 33 After he [the woodpecker] hath jobbed and pecked into it [the oak] as farre as to the very marrow and heart thereof. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 169 The Tool will job into softer parts of the Stuff. 1882Jessopp in 19th Cent. Nov. 733 Pigmies of the Meiocene..jobbing at the eyes of some mammoth floundering in a hole.
▪ V. job, v.2|dʒɒb|
Also 8 jobb.
[f. job n.2]
1. intr. To do jobs or odd pieces of work; to do piece-work, work by the piece.
1694Motteux Rabelais iv. Prol., By his Hatchet he earn'd many a fair Penny of the..Log-Merchants, among whom he went a Jobbing. c1820Mrs. Sherwood Penny Tract 7 in Houlston Juvenile Tracts, Cutting fruit-trees, and jobbing about in different gardens. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 873 He had worked..and still jobbed about.
2. trans. Chiefly in colloq. phr. that job's jobbed.
1840Marryat Poor Jack xix, That job's jobbed, as the saying is. 1847De Quincey Secret Societies Wks. 1863 VI. 240 ‘Then’, said Pyrrhus, ‘next we go for Macedon; and after that job's jobbed, next, of course, for Greece’. 1864Webster s.v., To job work.
3. To let out (a large piece of work) in separate portions to different contractors or workmen.
1882in Ogilvie.
4. To hire (less usually, to let out on hire) for a particular job, or for a definite time (a horse, carriage, etc.). Also absol., and in phr. to job it.
1786Wolcott (P. Pindar) Birthday Ode xliv, Whitbread, d'ye keep a coach, or job one, pray? Job, job, that's cheapest; yes, that's best, that's best. 1829Hood Epping H. xxxi, Some had horses of their own, And some were forced to job it. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlviii, She went to the livery-man from whom she jobbed her carriage. 1861Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 358/1 The masters of whom I have spoken will job a carriage duly emblazoned..with the proper armorial bearings..and job coachmen and grooms as well. Ibid., Very few noblemen at present bring their carriage-horses to town;..they nearly all job, as it is invariably called.
5. To let or deal with for profit.
1726in Swift's Corr. Wks. 1841 II. 583 Your interest with me..procured Dr. Ellwood the use of that chamber, not the power to job it. 1812Scott Let. to Southey 4 June in Lockhart, The clergy..have a strange disposition to job away among themselves the rewards of literature. 1838Lytton Alice ii. iii, These old ruins are my property, and are not to be jobbed out to the insolence of public curiosity.
6. a. To buy and sell (stock or goods) as a broker; to deal with as a middleman; to buy from one person and sell to another at a profit. to job off: to sell goods at very low prices.
1670[implied in jobber2 3]. 1711J. Dennis Pub. Spirit 29 Stocks are jobb'd by People in the City, who have no real Stock but their Impudence. 1864Webster s.v., To job goods. 1890W. Whitman in Pall Mall G. 26 Aug. 7/2 The Essays are remarkably fine specimens of type, paper, and press-work—Chapman and Hall their English publishers—and jobb'd here by Scribners, New York. 1903Lett. that bring Business 68 We have had some very unpleasant experiences in the past through our goods being held on consignment for months, and then jobbed off at suicidal prices. 1936Economist 22 Feb. 400/1 Motor spirit..has been comparatively easy to sell, while heavier oils have either been ‘jobbed off’ or used for ‘cracking’ into lighter oils. 1955Times 22 Aug. 7/6 The bottom has dropped out of the rice market and hard decisions are being taken about jobbing off as cattle fodder a million tons of surplus rice.
b. intr. To buy and sell stock; to deal or speculate in stocks.
1721–2Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 12 (1754) 59 Those persons, who could not raise money enough..jobb'd in these little bubbles. 1781Justamond Priv. Life Lewis XV, I. 84 This Nobleman had jobbed to advantage in the Quincampoix- street. 1809R. Langford Introd. Trade 116 If he has lost..certain sums..in..jobbing in the funds. 1890Spectator 15 Nov., The Bourses of the world have begun to job in currency.
c. to job backwards: to engage retrospectively in calculations, e.g. of profits on Stock Exchange transactions, that presume knowledge of subsequent events. Freq. transf.
1919D. Lloyd George Let. 8 July in A. J. P. Taylor My Darling Pussy (1975) 27 The election was muddled but it is no use jobbing backwards. 1931Economist 21 Mar. 621/1 Calculations based on ‘jobbing backwards’ on a Fixed Trust holding are altogether illusive. 1939War Illustr. 18 Nov. p. ii/1, I notice that in his [sc. Lloyd George's] writings about this later, and quite possibly greater, War he shows a sad inclination to ‘job backwards’, as they say on the Stock Exchange. By jobbing backwards I have no difficulty in proving how I could have been worth {pstlg}20,000,000, whereas if I die, or get bombed, before this war finishes I shall figure for ever so much less than that, having lost a considerable fortune by declining values of stocks and shares. 1959Times 4 Sept. 11/4 Did he [sc. the Prime Minister] not actually say ‘We never job backwards’? This is a Stock Market term meaning, in this context, ‘We let bygones be bygones.’ 1959Observer 11 Oct. 15/3 Meanwhile, jobbing backwards, how much was one inclined to overestimate the effect of those excellently produced Labour Party telecasts? 1968J. M. Ziman Public Knowl. iii. 31 All too often it becomes an exercise in ‘jobbing backwards’: it tells us how we ought to have derived our result if only we had known the answer before we began.
7. intr. To turn a public office or service, or a position of trust, improperly to private or party advantage; to practise jobbery.
1732Pope Ep. Bathurst 141 Statesman and Patriot ply alike the stocks,..And Judges, job, and Bishops bite the town. 1826Scott Jrnl. 20 Jan., I daresay he jobs, as all other people of consequence do, in elections and so forth. 1844P. Harwood Hist. Irish Rebell. 47 note, He found it necessary to bribe and job on a larger scale than the boldest of his predecessors. 1869Spectator 17 Apr. 469/2 If left unfettered he would job.
8. a. trans. To make a ‘job’ of (job n.2 3, 4 b); to deal with in some way; esp. to deal with corruptly for private gain or advantage.
1825Scott Fam. Lett. 25 Aug. (1894) II. xxiii. 344 The local magistrates..seem to have jobb'd the matter sadly. 1881Blackmore Christowell ix, He meant to do his duty to his own kin, instead of founding charities to be jobbed by aliens. 1889Spectator 28 Sept., They would regard this power as certain to be jobbed, and will accordingly never give it.
b. To give away by jobbery; to get (a person) into some position by jobbery.
1720Ramsay Wealth 50 How..these..Have jobb'd themselves into sae high a state. 1849Tait's Mag. XVI. 141/2 The Colonial Office had all but jobbed away Vancouver's Island. 1864Sala in Daily Tel. 30 Sept., The nominee may have been jobbed into the place to serve some dirty purpose. 1899Daily News 20 July 7/2 [He] was then jobbed into the post of director of the deaf and dumb asylum.
9. To put off by artifice: cf. fob off.
1876Weiss Wit. Hum., & Shaks. xi. 379 When you try jauntily to job off suspicion before other persons, the cheek grows pale with dread of being contradicted. 1887Pall Mall G. 23 Aug. 6/1 The policy of Scotland-yard, he [Mr. Pickersgill] said, was to ‘job off’ complaints made against the police.
10. To cheat; to betray; = frame v. 10. slang (orig. U.S.).
1903A. H. Lewis Boss viii. 100 Twelve honest dullards who called themselves a jury, despite his protestations that he was ‘being jobbed’, instantly declared him guilty. 1904McClure's Mag. Nov. 64/1 Now she was coming back, swearing she'd been ‘jobbed’, the judge had been bought, and the jury corrupted. 1926J. Black You can't Win xxiii. 353 It has always been a question with me where this framing and jobbing started; whether the defense originally began it..or whether it was the other way round. Ibid. 366, I was in the district attorney's office..and I know you got ‘jobbed’. I'll take your case for nothing. 1972C. Drummond Death at Bar v. 110 Funny you not minding Alwyn jobbin' your mum, not to mention your lawful wedded hubby. 1972J. Philips Vanishing Senator (1973) i. ii. 11 ‘Peter is troubled by the possibility that Jeremy Lloyd was jobbed by the Justice Department.’.. ‘You think Lloyd is innocent?’ 1973K. Giles File on Death ii. 28 You want to watch or they'll job you on that.
▪ VI. job
obs. form of jobe v. |