workedadj.
/wəːkt/, U.S. /wərkt/ 1. With modifying word: formed, designed, executed, etc., in the specified way.Recorded earliest in well-worked adj.
ΘΠ
the world > action or operation > carrying out > [adjective] > executed or performed
doneOE
fulfilled1340
executec1374
performedc1400
accomplete?c1450
conveyed?1504
executed1592
worked1669
enacted1813
transact1854
1669 ‘Eleutherius’ tr. L. M. Du Bail Famous Chinois 120 Well workt tempers are never friends to baseness.
1857 Calcutta Rev. 29 23 Without some well devised and honestly worked plan of statistics, [etc.].
1886 Col. Maurice Lett. from Donegal 4 A cleverly-worked intrigue.
1915 Bookseller, Newsdealer & Stationer Nov. 604/1 The collection..has been arranged into progressive and skillfully worked groupings.
2009 J. Campbell in J. D. Lyons & K. Wine Chance, Lit., & Culture in Early Mod. France vii. 111 Racine arouses interest and emotion through a carefully worked plot.
2.
a. Of a material or product: subjected to a particular process or operation; prepared or shaped by labour; processed, treated, finished. Cf. wrought adj. II.
ΘΠ
the world > space > shape > [adjective] > shaped
wroughtOE
forged1382
formedc1440
feignedc1475
framed1565
informed1581
turned1623
worked1682
configurate1716
moulded1728
configurated1753
society > occupation and work > work > product of work > [adjective]
worked1682
1682 H. Keepe Monumenta Westmonasteriensia 39 A very beautiful Tomb of Alabaster and gray Marble, Canopied with curious worked stone, and gilt with Gold.
1772 E. Jones New & Universal Geogr. Gram. II. ii. 86 A considerable traffic in raw and worked silk.
1772 J. Watson Let. 5 Dec. in Archaeologia (1775) 3 236 Great numbers of worked stones lie promiscuously, both above and under ground.
1864 J. Hunt tr. C. Vogt Lect. on Man x. 288 He reports that he has found..worked flints at a depth of twelve feet in a stratified soil.
1887 U.S. Consular Rep. No. 73.5. 218 Other more or less worked goods, joinery included.
1892 Archaeologia 54 110 Many fragments of worked bone and horn were discovered.
1918 W. Kent Bookkeeping & Cost Accounting for Factories 194/1 The total productive work (worked materials and construction of machinery for the shop).
1931 Pop. Mech. Sept. 398/1 Ivory has lines of many colors, the compact cells being filled with a waxlike material that gives to worked ivory its high polish.
1984 Washington Post 15 Mar. d15/1 A dried tobacco leaf feels a little like worked leather.
2001 Oxoniensia 65 167 The pits also occasionally contain a range of other artefacts including..briquetage and worked flint.
b. Decorated, ornamented, embellished; esp. (of a fabric, garment, etc.) decorated with needlework, embroidered; cf. wrought adj. 6. Also: added as decoration, ornamental.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > [adjective] > artistically executed or ornamented
wrought1455
elaborated1596
conceited1598
elaborate1621
wroughted1656
exact1667
high-wrought1684
inextricable1692
worked1696
fancied1709
high-finished1744
1696 in D. R. Hainsworth Corr. J. Lowther (1983) 688 1 Dozen worked chairs.
1740 E. Montagu Let. in E. J. Climenson Elizabeth Montagu (1906) I. 47 I desire you to send me up my worked facing and robing.
1747 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 447 In my Irish green damask and my worked head.
1787 Times 28 Feb. 1/3 (advt.) Crapes tiffanies, chambray, lawn,..worked point gauzes, and variety of black, blond and thread edgings.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality xi, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 249 The worked worsted-chairs.
1857 C. Dickens Little Dorrit ii. xxx. 588 She turned the watch upon the table, and..looked at the worked letters within.
1884 E. Yates Recoll. & Experiences I. 181 Elaborately dressed, with a worked shirt-front and huge white waistcoat.
1906 Internat. Studio Oct. p. xvi/2 The border is..hemmed and finished with a worked edge.
1986 A. B. Rugh Reveal & Conceal v. 88 Women cut out the worked pieces and transfer them from dress to dress.
2000 S. Vickers Miss Garnet's Angel 74 The worked crimson slippers my wife wore on feast days.
3. Of an animal, esp. an ox: used for agricultural work. Cf. wrought adj. 12. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > domestic animal > [adjective] > labouring
labouring1377
working1577
worked1707
wrought1725
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 170 An old worked Ox fatting as well, and being as good Meat as a young one.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (ed. 2) I. 23 Mr. Rowley has fattened worked oxen of five years old in eight weeks on them [sc. potatoes] parboiled.
1805 J. Lawrence Gen. Treat. Cattle 40 Worked oxen attain a larger size than unworked.
1853 Bell's Life in London 31 July 1/3 Ten exceedingly fresh good worked Horses.
1938 Times 7 Jan. 8/3 We sold..11 worked oxen in pairs.
4. Horticulture. Of a plant: grafted. Cf. work v. 35b. Now rare. Recorded earliest in double-worked adj. at double adj.1 and adv. Compounds 2f(b).
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the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [adjective] > grafted
inoculated1604
ungraft1605
engraffed1607
engrafted1609
ungrafted1657
grafted1697
stock-grafted1707
inarched1736
workeda1763
root-grafted1835
bud-grafted1930
a1763 J. Justice Gardener's New Kalendar (1767) 332 They bud the Plum stock with the Apricot, or some free growing Peach,..they then bud the tender Peach upon the shoots; these are called the double worked trees.
1827 Q. Jrnl. Sci. 23 277 If a few worked plants could be had from thence,..there can be no doubt but that the mangoe may be had on the table as easily as the pine-apple.
1848 W. Paul Rose Garden 106 When potting worked plants, we should have an eye to suckers from the wild stock.
1915 H. H. Thomas Gardening for Amateurs I. 252/1 I doubt whether any worked plants equal ‘own root’ Roses.
1987 K. Rushforth Tree Planting & Managem. (1990) iv. 70 With any ‘worked’ tree, be on the outlook for sucker growth from the rootstock.
5. That sets out or demonstrates the steps made in performing a calculation, solving a problem, etc. Esp. in worked example.
Π
1803 W. Jones Adams's Geom. & Graphical Ess. (ed. 3) 482 The methods of this rule are too evident to require worked examples.
1813 J. Poole Village School Improved (ed. 2) 81 Qualifying uninstructed children to act as teachers.., by supplying them with worked sums and tables.
1882 F. E. Hulme (title) Worked examination questions in plane geometrical drawing.
1908 Jrnl. Educ. Mar. 184/2 All is made quite clear, as clear as a worked problem in geometry.
1984 W. G. E. Watson Classical Hebrew Poetry (1986) iii. 19 In the worked examples inner-strophic analysis has been set out stanza by stanza.
1999 J. Crawshaw & P. Langley GCSE Intermediate Maths p. iv At the end of each chapter, there is a Worked Exam Question..followed by Exam Questions for you to do.
2002 Sunday Times (Nexis) 21 Apr. It also includes a worked example of a tax return.
6. Of a railway line: leased to and operated by a particular company. Cf. work v. 17b. Now rare.
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society > authority > control > [adjective] > relating to management or administration > managed
conveyed?1504
managed1603
worked1862
conducted1875
run1891
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [adjective] > types of railway
narrow-gauge1844
worked1862
switchback1887
multitracked1931
steamless1970
1862 Daily News 20 Feb. 6/6 The railway..would be worked by the Cork and Bandon Company for 30 per cent. of the receipts... He knew not of any similar arrangement so favourable to the proprietors of a worked line.
1898 Railway News 11 June 869/2 Others have sunk their individuality in that of the operating railway, and have practically become part of its own property, although still shown in the returns as a ‘leased’ or ‘worked’ line.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 12/1 ‘Leased’ or ‘worked’ lines.
1980 W. A. McCutcheon Industr. Archaeol. Northern Ireland (1984) 126 (table) Lines owned by company... Lines leased and worked by company... Train miles (including worked lines).
Compounds
With adverbs, forming adjectives corresponding to phrasal verbs at work v.
worked-off adj. Printing = wrought-off adj. at wrought adj. Compounds; cf. to work off 3 at work v. Phrasal verbs 1.
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society > communication > printing > [adjective] > printed
printc1475
printed1481
imprinted1561
wrought-off1683
worked-off1770
typographical1803
machine-printed1852
type-set1867
1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 360 He grasps off the Worked off Heap so much at once..as he can well govern.
1839 C. H. Timperley Dict. Printers 104 He..then puts a quantity of the worked off sheets on it, taking care to have the printed side upwards.
1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing at Lay-up Before the letter of a worked-off form is distributed, [etc.].
2004 R.-G. Rummonds 19th-cent. Printing Pract. & Iron Handpress II. Gloss. 1015 Papering, wrapping up blocks of worked-off type.
worked-out adj. (a) (of a mine, etc.) exhausted; cf. to work out 3 at work v. Phrasal verbs 1; (b) (of a plan, idea, etc.) formulated or developed in detail; cf. to work out 8 at work v. Phrasal verbs 1.
Π
1800 J. Evans Tour N. Wales viii. 204 The mines were at length neglected for want of means for the reduction of the ore. This is the grand reason of so many of the apparent worked-out mines.
1854 C. Darwin Let. 31 Jan. in Corr. (1989) V. 172 I am, also, a slow worker, & have heaps of my own half-worked out materials.
1882 Rep. Director of Mint Production of Precious Metals 641 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (47th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 216) XXIII The worked-out space becomes more or less filled with bowlders.
1908 Stage Year Bk. 21 An ingeniously conceived and vigorously worked-out spectacle play.
1971 C. J. White Introd. Coal Mining Industry vii. 63 All worked-out sites are graded, levelled and drained.
2011 Independent 5 Dec. 42/1 Facebook didn't really have a worked-out policy on where its social network blurred into a commercial network.
worked up adj. (a) brought into a finished condition or made into a finished product; cf. to work up 3a at work v. Phrasal verbs 1; (b) (chiefly in predicative use) agitated, excited; anxious, upset; cf. wrought-up adj. at wrought adj. Compounds.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > nervous excitement > [adjective] > nervously excited or agitated
high-wrought1579
feverous1587
tremulous1611
feverish1637
overwound1640
gestient1644
overwrought1648
twittering1648
fevereda1657
tumultuous1667
wrought-up1688
flustered1743
trepidatinga1774
flurried1775
wrought1778
riled1825
tête montée1825
worked up1831
tumultuating1854
trepidant1891
tremorous1897
wroughted1905
goosy1906
hotted-up1923
steamed1923
spooky1926
antsy-pantsy1944
antsy1950
agitato1964
amped1967
wired1970
the world > action or operation > completing > [adjective] > completed > of a process of manufacture, etc.
finished1582
worked up1884
1831 P. Egan Show Folks 41 Like a well-worked up scene on the stage.
1835 Foreign Q. Rev. July 456 He approached the Holy Sepulchre with notions highly exaggerated, and with worked-up feelings.
1884 W. S. B. McLaren Spinning Woollen & Worsted (ed. 2) 187 Shoddy is the worked-up waste of soft woollen goods.
1906 B. Harraden Scholar's Daughter xiii. 272 Every time I speak of it, I get fearfully worked up.
1972 Econ. Bot. 26 98/2 The author..sent to me xeroxes of a number of pages of his worked-up notes.
2006 Toronto Star (Nexis) 8 Apr. m7 It's just politics. Don't get all worked up about it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1669