1Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

1. 1.1 Mental or physical activity as a means of earning income; employment.
   I'm still looking for work

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It is known to be the case that it is more difficult to find alternative employment whilst out of work than whilst in work.
   • Many feel on edge and one woman claimed to have given up work as a result of the stress.
   • In my situation, one of the reasons why I have remained here, is because of my line of work.
   • This trip is to provide relief and training to a new recruit into my line of work.
   • He does not say anything about his prospect of finding work or the efforts he is making.
   • With their matching broken noses, the three left the pub in pursuit of a less hazardous line of work.
   • After I met with him, it was clear that his personality didn't entirely mesh with his line of work.
   • He said it was essential that a programme was put in place to help Parker Knoll employees find new work or retrain.
   • With remarkable royal originality, the Prince first inquired as to Ron's line of work.
   • The firm set up a mini job centre on site to help employees find new work.
   • We have secured revenue streams through consultancy work and product income.
   • Anything that has to do with my line of work, I'm the one everyone in my company calls.
   • John was a well known and accomplished tailor and was gifted in that line of work.
   • Clarks said it would provide support to employees seeking alternative work.
   • Sometimes he thinks about this but he can always justify his line of work.
   • The younger Byer tried a different line of work early in his career, but it was not meant to be.
   • Isn't she afraid of the competition that is suddenly surfacing in her line of work?
   • This will affect them in later life and may hamper their efforts to find work, she said.
   • Tade could turn his hand to any type of work and earned his living from his own expertise.
   • It's for six months which is really good for an actress to get so much work and a steady income.

   Synonyms

   employment, job, day job, post, position, situation, means of earning one's living, occupation, profession, career, business, trade, line
2. 1.2 The place where one is employed.
   I was returning home from work on a packed subway

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Alteration in lifestyle involves a reduction in physical activity in work and the home.
   • Her husband returned from work later in the day and wondered what on earth was going on.
   • Mrs Jenkins knew nothing about the scam until her bank called one evening when she returned from work.
   • I dropped the car off and walked to the nearby station to catch the train into work.
   • One of the main problems is that owners are too affectionate with their dogs when they return from work.
   • Then we'd have to have transportation to and from work, so that meant we'd have to buy a car.
   • Yesterday a very large cardboard box was waiting for me when I returned from work.
   • I got in from work and spent an hour or so rubbing down a radiator in the dining room, I then masked it up and sprayed it.
   • Hopefully, Daniel would be able to cast some light upon her whereabouts when he returned from work.
   • However we had to get going as I'd promised to pop into work briefly to check out my new laptop.
   • Naburn residents left for work today with little hope that they would be able to return this evening.
   • The unprovoked attack happened as he returned from work earlier this month.
   • Popping any bonuses you receive from work will earn tax relief too, so you'll hang onto more of your money!
   • By the time her flatmates return from work, the victim has become the oppressor.
   • Simply mow the grass once a week to provide lush new growth that you can plunge your bare feet into when you return from work.
   • On the day of his death, he returned from work as usual, exercised the dog, and went to sleep in the front bedroom.
   • Three hours later, smoke was seen coming from her door by a person returning from work.
   • I caught one of my consultant colleagues sneaking into work with one under his arm.
3. 1.3 The period of time one spends in paid employment.
   he was going to the theatre after work

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Flags flew at half-mast and non-essential staff were told not to report for work.
   • Drivers can turn up for work and report that they have taken medication, and are unsure if they are fit to drive.
   • Looked at the timetable for work over the next fortnight, I'm down some hours but it's not too bad.
   • Most employees arriving for work early today had only heard about the merger on the early morning news.
   • Flexible working is a range of options designed to help employees balance work and home life.
   • He asked not to be named as he was late for work as a result of the delay and did not want his employers to know.
   • He was referring to a woman who worked as a clerk at a police chowky and had not reported for work for days.
   • Union members who have broken the strike to return to work would be able to vote, to the fury of some of their colleagues.
   • Bloody Leo meets Paddy at the bar after work and is once again looking down in the dumps.
   • On the third day, he decided to report for work at the KFC, acting as if nothing had happened.
4. 1.4West Indian count noun A job.
   I decided to get a work

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Now that his show has been suspended, unemployed Chris has picked up his cutlass and is looking for a work.
   • With them movements she was a gwaan wid, she could easily hold a work as a Go Go in any one of our popular night spots.

   Synonyms

   job, day job, profession, line of work, line of business, trade, employment, position, post, situation, business, career, métier, vocation, calling, craft, skill, field, province, walk of life

2A task or tasks to be undertaken.

1. 2.1 The materials for a task.
   she frequently took work home with her

   Example sentencesExamples

   • He is often at the office until 8pm and always brings work home.
   • Instead of taking work with you, spend some time ensuring urgent matters are dealt with before you take your break.
   • Type A people are highly competitive. They typically work long hours and regularly take work home.
2. 2.2in combination or with modifier worksBritish Activity involving construction or repair.
   extra costs caused by additional building works

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Drivers will be relieved to hear that the end of the road is in sight for the long-term repair works near Ashton Keynes.
   • As per Mr Singh's statement on Monday, the road repair works should have commenced from Tuesday.
   • The way in which highway construction works will be conducted will be discussed in March 2006.
   • The road goes through a number of impoverished regions, and it is hoped that construction works will breathe life into them.
   • In addition to the repair works, part of the HLF money has been allocated for a training programme in heritage skills.
   • It also involves management of daily maintenance and minor repairs and improvement works.
   • Cement, also a must in construction works, can also be produced from sea sand.
   • Of course they attend to a few repair works of less significance, which involve a sum that does not pinch their purse.
   • After the end of the summer season, coastal construction works are once again underway.
   • The goal of the trip was to familiarise officials with the construction works of MNG in the resort and was paid for by the company.
   • The railway and road construction works require the removal of land mines strewn across the demilitarized zone.
   • The mobile barriers plus various internal defence construction works will not prevent all flooding indefinitely.
   • The only explanation would be that people participated in rehabilitation and construction works.
   • Delay in construction works, however, led to the necessity for the purchase of 313 trailers.
   • It may be because there are bound to be some changes during repair works, he adds.
   • But the Turkish companies failed to fulfil their engagements in the construction works.
   • No additional excavation works were undertaken and no verge crossing was made.
   • Pavements are not meant for walking, they are for repair works, changing tiles.
   • Tucked away between the rubble of building works was my host's modest home.
   • Normally, the workers in these construction works are from outside Kerala.
3. 2.3informal Cosmetic plastic surgery.
   between you and me, I think he's had some work done

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I think her breasts have definitely had work done.
   • Today every woman I know has had a face-lift - or, as they say, work done - with good and bad results.
   • She's obviously had work done to her nose.
   • Why would she have had work? She still looks gorgeous.
   • If her face has had a lot of work, then it's probably more likely that all sorts of other things have, too.
   • The ironic thing is that when younger women get all that work done, they end up looking older.
   • Knifeless work on men, including botox injections, has increased 722 percent since 1997.
   • I think he might be my fave celeb even if he has had a bit of 'work'.
   • She seems to have had so much work done, subtle and not so subtle, that she looks like a marmorealized version of herself.
   • The plastic surgeon says he has done work on celebrities, but he won't name names because of patient confidentiality.
4. 2.4worksTheology Good or moral deeds.
   the Clapham sect was concerned with works rather than with faith

   Example sentencesExamples

   • You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
   • Indeed, evangelical Christians should be foremost in good deeds and leaders in works of charity.
   • For no matter how good our deeds or works may be, they cannot satisfy God 100%.
   • Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac.
   • How can I do good works if I am physically not able to work?

3A thing or things done or made; the result of an action.

1. 3.1count noun A literary or musical composition or other piece of art.
   a work of fiction

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Hiding behind humour, he was intensely aware of his inability to produce works of political significance.
   • On display now at schools throughout Pattaya are works produced by children based on the theme of children's rights.
   • While the art embraces stories and traditions going back centuries, most of the works were produced in the last decade.
   • On the other hand, materials for producing these works might need to be transported from home.
   • Now he is penning plays, musicals and literary works, and his new audience requires a different kind of chap altogether.
   • Has it led people to deal with it more as a literary work and less as a media event?
   • Her Magnum Opus Project is commissioning nine new orchestral works and six new compositions.
   • The hands of the artist or artisan are supposed to produce unique, original works.
   • When The Beatles broke up, the individual members produced works like Imagine, All Things Must Pass and Mind Games.
   • It makes no sense to assume that a university should be assessing the market value of works produced by their fine arts students.
   • Both move me almost to tears in places and are mature works from artists at the peak of their creative powers.
   • They can be read from right to left as a book, and often accompany works of literature.
   • Imported textiles are often used as a base, and artistic batik works are produced for the tourist market.
   • Recently she has focused on her travels to India and Italy to produce works which evoke the spirit of those places with an overwhelming intensity.
   • An earlier pair of works convey the operatic extremes of Brooks's passion for Rubinstein.
   • It's a work of exactitude in literature not rivalled outside Tristram Shandy.
   • He also noted that many fine artists could produce magnificent works of equine art on commission.
   • The wee man was a big artist, producing some huge works including a triptych around two metres high.
   • The Erotokritos, one of the epic works of Greek literature is told and re-told in much of Cretan music.
   • Two of the works produced by the artist in residence will be given to the Central Akademi.

   Synonyms

   composition, piece, creation, achievement, accomplishment

   work of art, opus, oeuvre
2. 3.2works The artistic production of a particular author, composer, or artist, regarded collectively.
   the works of Schubert fill several feet of shelf space

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Crossing the barriers of vernacular literature, her works have been read by more people and she has been able to create a niche of her own.
   • As the name signifies, it will focus on either one of the more melodious Carnatic raagas or the works of a famous composer.
   • Few regular readers of Parameters will be unfamiliar with the works of Ralph Peters.
   • The other principle the artist followed was the artistic value of the works.
   • Handel's comparisons of the works of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu are nothing short of brilliant.
   • The pieces recalled the boxed works of Cornell, Beuys, and even Keens or Hirst.
   • Collectors who have snapped up his works include multi-millionaire composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
   • Folklore and religious places are key elements in artist Sunil's works.
   • Based on the works of author H.P. Lovecraft, the title depicts a world steeped in evil and chaos.
   • Leonardo was extremely fastidious, but Nicholl reminds us that his exquisite works were the product of titanic labours.
   • The South Bank plays host to a month-long retrospective of the English composer's works.
   • The most telling piece of Block's works sits shyly under a window.
   • After the death of Liszt in 1888, there was contention among the critical hierarchy over the musical value of his works.
   • The only artist whose works directly convey a form of social commentary is Sopko.
   • Fascinating tales of Romeo and Juliet were among Mr David's favorite pieces of Shakespeare's works.
   • Little, however, has been known about the shy schoolmaster who produced these works, some of which he wrote with his brother.
   • The works of Mawdudi were translated into Arabic and other languages as early as 1940.
   • You have a right to love her literary works; and I have a right not to.
   • They did not know foreign languages and did not seem to appreciate scholars' works.
   • The Golden Age produced the works of Rembrandt, Vermeer and other Dutch masters.

   Synonyms

   writings, oeuvre, canon, output
3. 3.3 A piece of embroidery, sewing, or knitting, typically made using a specified stitch or method.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The chikan work of Lucknow is perhaps one of the most popular embroidery works in India.
   • The back flowed out smoothly around Leira and the veil, when she had it on, fell gracefully from a small silver tiara, a delicate work of spring leaves and dainty frosted lilies.
   • Walker contributed a sewn work entitled Sampler that featured the embroidered text, ‘Wife is a four-letter word’.

4worksBritish treated as singular A place or premises in which industrial or manufacturing processes are carried out.

5worksThe operative part of a clock or other machine.

6usually worksMilitary
count noun A defensive structure.

7Physics
The exertion of force overcoming resistance or producing molecular change.

8the worksinformal Everything needed, desired, or expected.

1Be engaged in physical or mental activity in order to achieve a result; do work.

1. 1.1 Be employed in a specified occupation or field.
   he worked as a waiter in a rather shabby restaurant

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Geoff also worked as the occupational medical officer at the then Phillips television factory in Dunfermline.
   • Ann worked as a field sales co-ordinator, organising a sales force operating throughout the country.
   • I've never ever worked in an office before, I've only ever worked as a waitress.
   • Before becoming an MSP, Martin worked as a researcher and was employed to take minutes of the party's cabinet meetings.
   • He worked as a bookkeeper at various other businesses in Steinbach until his retirement at age 70.
   • She also worked as a careers consultant at Shenfield High for 16 years.
   • I worked as a cardex clerk for one company and was employed at a car hire company.
   • He has worked as a professional actor and singer in the West End but increasingly he is drawn to directing.
   • He worked as a ranger employed by the council at the Flitch Way Country Park, which runs from Bishop's Stortford to Braintree.
   • Mr Woodall now plans to work as a heavy goods vehicle driver, and has abandoned the idea of ever working on a ship again.
   • Tralee native June Hewitt has worked as a professional artist from her home studio for a number of years.
   • He worked for much of the time as an engineer, working on the fortifications of various cities.
   • She worked as a secretary and had no occupational exposure to toxic fumes.
   • Frank worked in the Paper Mills and Waterford Crystal for a number of years and for the last few years he worked as a taxi driver.
   • For years Paul had worked in the hospitality business working mainly in bars that had loud music.
   • He took courses in the field, then worked as a nightclub bouncer and a bodyguard.
   • In Blagoevgrad, Smith worked as a small business development volunteer.
   • He had previously worked as a business and town planner for Boots in Nottingham, where he still lives.
   • Before that, he had worked as a volunteer in youth clubs, while employed as a printing and advertising manager.
   • Many worked as farmers in fields owned by the lords and their lives were controlled by the farming year.

   Synonyms

   be employed, have a job, earn one's living, hold down a job, do business, follow/ply one's trade
2. 1.2with object Set to or keep at work.
   Jane is working you too hard

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Kat thinks that Chrissie's working her too hard, and persuades her to give Little Mo the time off.
   • The smallest petrol version proved a willing performer and very refined, even when being worked hard.
   • The rich, throat-catching smell of hard worked packhorses hit me even as I drew in a sharp gasp of amazement.
   • He works Miles hard and does all the thinking for Angus, who, right from the beginning, is seen to be a few straws short of a bale.
   • Stefano works Claudio hard, but provides digs in his house and introduces him to the world of drag racing.
   • He was demanding as a director, but I wouldn't agree that he worked you too hard.
   • Hopefully, we know him now and we know we can work him harder and that he is able for it.
   • Honestly, he worked us hard, but after the session I actually had so much energy I felt like doing another hour!
   • We have got a great goalkeeping coach called Seamus McDonagh who works you hard and is very encouraging.
   • Duck legs have fairly tough meat - the legs are worked hard during their lifespan, making the flesh taut and muscly.
   • His wife, who is a very smart and capable campaigner in her own right, has also worked the press very hard.
   • Bruce works his pupils hard, but there is a great atmosphere in his gym, and between yelling at us to try harder, he finds plenty of time to talk smack to everyone.
   • It only took four days to fit it all together but she worked me hard.
   • He works you really hard and demands that things are done right.
   • Yes, we worked you too hard in the last case, Mr Besanko, we would like to hear first from the respondent.
   • They worked me so hard I can't remember my 20s, apart from the fact I broke out in rashes.
   • Claudio Bozzini, the club's goalkeeping coach, works his three charges hard.
   • The fitness coaches worked us hard in pre-season, and they are still working us hard.
3. 1.3with object Practise one's occupation in or at (a particular place)
   I worked a few clubs and so forth

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Why was T J Hooker still working the streets when he was a Sergeant, and should have been ensconced in a cosy desk job at his age?
   • One of six children, his father worked a small farm and laboured for the county council to make ends meet.
   • Men were busy working on architecture or training in the army while young ladies worked the market place.
   • The evening takes the form of a memory play told by the elderly Kat, now a shoeshine boy working the streets, who looks back at his younger self.
   • Donna has dreams of working the friendly skies of New York and Paris and isn't ready to give her heart to anyone just yet.
   • She spent half of her life working the streets of the major cities of Saskatchewan.
   • His father owned and worked a small farm of some fifty acres in County Derry in Northern Ireland.
   • For a nostalgic two hours, the rag and bone man was working the streets of Salford again.
   • Nobody that has ever worked the killing room will ever tell you that you will catch every one, no matter how hard you try.
   • By 1841 the old Carleton Hall estate was worked by three farmers, possibly tenants of Lane Fox estates.
   • Once a farm was farmed by many men/women and their families, but nowadays farms are often worked by one person.
   • He worked the farm with one of his brothers and combined it with rugby, but when his brother wanted to set up his own business Logan bought him out.
   • If you're working an area where there is a fast tide, then you should still be able to get away with an uptide rod and say 6ozs of lead.
   • You're working the streets, you go home at night, you take a hit and fall asleep in your clothes.
   • I don't believe there are any women working the streets who want to be there.
   • Beats the hell out of stripping or working the streets like some whore doesn't it?
   • The Moore Valley farmer said he has six sons and one daughter, but Pat the eldest son works the farm with him.
   • Lynda has now come off the drugs and the drink - and she has turned her back on working the streets.
   • She may be a prostitute working the streets of Leith but she still has standards.
   • Most of the prostitutes working the streets have a drug problem, and fund their habit by prostitution.
4. 1.4West Indian with object Be engaged in (a particular occupation)
   I worked fireman on ships

2(of a machine or system) function, especially properly or effectively.

1. 2.1 (with reference to a machine or machine part) be or cause to be in operation.
   no object the device is designed to go into a special ‘rest’ state when it's not working

   with object teaching customers how to work a VCR

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The machine worked all hours - if it did not break down - and it needed few people to keep it running.
   • A machine working two shifts costs much less by the hour than that same machine working a single shift.
   • He looked back at the counter where a blonde haired girl was busy working the machines.
   • The travel back was one filled with only the sound of the heater blowing and the engine working.
   • As the machine worked, Raven straightened, allowing herself a moment to rub the ache in her side.
   • Before the advent of the computer I worked a manual Comptometer machine, the keys of which had to be pounded.
   • He talked to her as the machines worked, repairing the damage that his blast had wreaked.
   • She sees an Asian woman having difficulty working the machine and helps her to understand it.
   • Women snigger at men for being unable to work a washing machine, men snigger at women for being bad drivers.
   • As we are a school, it is insane having a lab where 4-6 machines are not working at one time.
   • Dad worked these trains regularly and for many years they were his regular assignment.

   Synonyms

   operate, use, handle, control, manipulate, manoeuvre, drive, run, direct

   ply, wield

3(of a plan or method) have the desired result or effect.

1. 3.1with object Produce as a result.
   with a dash of blusher here and there, you can work miracles

   Example sentencesExamples

   • If ever a country provided its team with all the motivation they needed to work miracles, then this is surely it.
   • If you could work that kind of miracle, you could go into medicine and make a mint.
   • Anyway, lame puns aside, the cast of Hollyoaks have worked a miracle.
   • We were convinced she was going to die, but fortunately the doctors worked a miracle.
   • However, having protested defeat by the venison, Vix worked her usual miracle and found room for a pudding.
   • I have often lived through that hour, that day, that week, in which was wrought the miracle of my transition from one world into another; for I did indeed pass into another world.
   • The ground staff worked miracles at Collegiate to make the pitch playable, albeit for a game reduced to 36 overs.
   • Not that they didn't work the odd miracle at the odd club, but for years the glories they traded on were well past.
   • Check out these before and after photos to see how cheaply and easily miracles can be worked.
   • England do not have anyone to come in and work miracles and it would be foolish to pick a new team and hope for the best.
   • Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed and signs and wonders will follow the believers.
   • And God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul
   • For Hugh, a 22-year-old IT worker, has wrought a minor miracle.
   • It can't be stated enough how everyone should thank them both - they have worked a miracle.
   • And now, when my son Jamie is almost the same age, I realize my father worked a miracle!
   • The miracle has been wrought by recognising health as a human right - and therefore the responsibility of the state - and acting accordingly.
   • What is certain is that if Barwick could work that miracle, merely knighting him would be an insult.
   • Sometimes a word of truth works the miracle, but, at times, years of preaching will do nothing.
   • He was pretending, she should have known that getting his attention was like working a miracle.
   • A balanced diet together with a gentle daily or weekly exercise regime can work miracles.

   Synonyms

   bring about, accomplish, achieve, produce, do, perform, carry out, implement, execute, create, engender, contrive, effect
2. 3.2 Make efforts to achieve something; campaign.
   they are dedicated to working for a better future for the generations to come

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Both local authorities say they are committed to working for better transport links and these efforts must continue.
   • That we are truly working for the common good - a good which really delivers the well-being and the flourishing of us all.
   • The deans and chancellors of these institutions are committed to working for change.
   • Others, who have been working for long-term solutions, don't have much to cheer about.
   • He was in the forefront for a number of these issues, working for the poor and the needy and homeless.
   • Legendre, an unemployed father of three, occupies all his free time working for the revolution.
   • By adding borrowed money to your own funds you can increase the total amount of money working for you.
   • But just because they are in Canada does not mean they have stopped working for the Burmese people.
3. 3.3informal with object Arrange or contrive.
   the chairman was prepared to work it for Phillip if he was interested

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Sadly it wouldn't be human if someone hadn't managed to work an angle on how to turn what happened to the city yesterday to their advantage.
   • That inactivity puts a greater premium on working a deal with unrestricted free agent James Dexter, its projected starter at left guard.
   • His editor, Clive Barnaby, wanted someone on the job who was prepared to work the local angles.
4. 3.4work on/upon Exert influence or persuasion on.
   she worked upon the sympathy of her associates

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Your class gave me the tools to understand the forces at work upon my conscience and to make a reasoned decision.
   • Some occult influence was at work upon me throughout those dark hours, I am positively certain.
   • At this late stage, the elites found themselves forced to work upon the increasingly dysfunctional myths.
   • Even now we are working on Mr Flintoff being a guest upon his return from Down Under.
   • In that moment, I became absurdly sure that a supernatural force was working upon me, pushing and pulling me toward an unknown fate, a road at whose end stood the slight, cold figure currently bargaining with my father.

   Synonyms

   persuade, manipulate, influence, sway, put pressure on, lean on

   coax, cajole, wheedle, soften up

   informal twist someone's arm, put the squeeze on
5. 3.5with object Use one's persuasive power to stir the emotions of.
   the born politician's art of working a crowd

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Our bit was well received and Gilz did an excellent job of working the crowd.
   • He knows how to work a crowd, he gives a good sermon and produces a splendid pulpit sweat.
   • In between speakers, the chairman, introduced only as Jack, works the crowd like an old hand.
   • He hopped about energetically, did the trademark Edwin moves, played congas and really worked the crowd.
   • He worked the crowd brilliantly, and was to keep everyone laughing through what proved a long night.
   • Still, one had to marvel again at the man's enthusiasm for working a crowd, even someone else's.
   • Christine Caughey and Richard Simpson turned up to have a peek at our meeting and our working the crowd.
   • He is brilliant when he works the crowd with his radio mike.
   • Clad in gladrags and working the crowds Al Gore made a democratic appearance.
   • You don't get to have a decent career in music without knowing how to work a crowd.
   • Justin is a fantastic front man who definitely knows how to work a crowd.
   • He's working the crowd, but it's more like he wants to than he has to.
   • The Beastie Boys worked the crowd into a frenzy when they ran off to a smaller stage at the venue's opposite end.
   • His concerns were for war and peace, grand speeches, red carpets and working the crowds.
   • The man knows how to work the crowd, but the smiley banter between songs keeps it from looking too cynical.
   • Big ups also go to Leon Wadham and his beautiful cardie, who worked the crowd like a seasoned professional.
   • Just before battle commenced, some of the warriors worked the crowd to get them in the mood.
   • Not only did he play a good match, at just 18 years of age he was working the crowd like a pro!
   • It lasted around five hours, with a number of musicians and speakers working a crowd, made up of all ethnic backgrounds.
   • Another person who could be seen working the crowd was director Jayaraj.

   Synonyms

   stir, stir up, excite, drive, move, spur, rouse, fire, galvanize

4with object and adverbial or complement Bring (a material or mixture) to a desired shape or consistency by hammering, kneading, etc.

1. 4.1work inno object Produce artistic pieces using (a particular material or medium)
   he works in clay over a very strong frame

   Example sentencesExamples

   • As well as using clear, sandblasted glass, Kelly works in cheery yellow and orange.
   • The limner was never solely a miniaturist, but worked in other formats and media too.
   • Dr. Bob works in cypress, training trees over many years to grow in specific shapes.
2. 4.2with object Produce (an article or design) using a specified material or sewing stitch.
   the castle itself is worked in tent stitch

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I then worked a satin type stitch down each side, with a different design down the middle.
   • I'm working these on 72 stitches, using some Regia Shadow that was in my stash.
   • Beautifully worked stitches feature in many examples of white work in children's dresses and gowns.
   • A large allegorical needlework picture wrought by Agnes Park hangs above the mantel.
   • I'm sure you could work some neat designs into the building front using the colour differences.
   • The pole screens had very finely worked needlework panels, often executed during their hours of leisure by the ladies of the house.
3. 4.3with object Cultivate (land) or extract materials from (a mine or quarry)
   contracts and leases to work the mines

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It is the rent that kings took for allowing the serfs and others to work the land that the kings owned.
   • He shows us the new checkpoints and yellow gates that let farmers work the land on either side of the divide.
   • Gilberth explains how his practices have changed even in the few years he's worked this land.
   • Serfs worked the land and produced the goods that the lord and his manor needed.
   • This may well have been the case but the company only worked the mine for a short time during which several thousand tons of ore were treated.
   • All mining is done on a small scale, with just a few people working each mine.
   • They were farming people who worked the land and tended to the livestock.
   • The legend has it that Peralta worked the mine with a high return for several years.
   • For the most part, the goblins worked the mines, humans were only sent there for punishment.
   • Mines were being worked by strange creatures and humanoid statues with pickaxes for hands.
   • The ones who were still working the mines by choice were paid at the end of the week, I found out.
   • One of the local farmers working their land on the steep banks of the lake, perhaps?
   • Wanlockhead was, like the neighbouring village of Leadhills, built as a mining town, housing the men who worked the lead mines.
   • Over the next 40 years, many companies worked mines along the difficult Mokau River.
   • In time of war, the other farmers would work his land, which was granted by the state.
   • The pastoralist class disperse the great mass of peasants who traditionally worked the land under the thumb of feudal landlords.
   • Mr Spargo took shares in a company formed for working a mine which he sold to the company.
   • The mine has been worked for its red, green and white salt for over 700 years and it is still operational.
   • It's a common assumption that most homes had a slave or two, while most farms and quarries were almost exclusively worked by slave labor.
   • The row of cottages below and behind you, is known as Irish Row, named after some of the men who worked the mines.

   Synonyms

   cultivate, farm, till, plough

   exploit

5Move or cause to move gradually or with difficulty into another position.

1. 5.1no object (of a person's features) move violently or convulsively.
   hair wild, mouth working furiously

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Tothas stared at him, mouth working with fear for his mistress, then nodded sharply.
   • Her other hand is at the back of my head now, her jaw working as if my mouth is a pulpy piece of fruit she's eating.
   • Rena was gaping like a fish, her mouth working furiously but she didn't emit a single word.
   • She gapes at us and her mouth works but no sound issues forth.
   • Sekher lay sprawled upon his back, twitching spasmodically, mouth working silently.
   • His watery eyes blink at me and his mouth works without speech.
   • Mike was glaring at Richard, his eyes dark, a muscle in his cheek working furiously.
   • Her mouth was working silently, trying to form words but unable to receive any from her brain.
   • Her mouth worked furiously trying to come up some excuse for her outburst.
   • The muscles in his jaw were working furiously as he clenched and unclenched his fingers.

   Synonyms

   twitch, quiver, twist, move spasmodically, convulse
2. 5.2Sailing no object, with adverbial Make progress to windward, with repeated tacking.
   trying to work to windward in light airs

   Example sentencesExamples

   • A weatherly ship is one that works well to windward, making but little leeway.

6with object Bring into a specified emotional state.