Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WORK, n. [Sax. weorc; D. and G. werk; Dan. and Sw. verk; Gr. εργον.]

1. Labor; employment; exertion of strength; particularly in man, manual labor.
2. State of labor; as, to be at work.
3. Awkward performance. What work you make!
4. That which us made or done; as, good work, or bad work.
5. Embroidery; flowers or figures wrought with the needle.
6. Any fabric or manufacture.
7. The matter on which one is at work. In rising she dropped her work.
8. Action; deed; feat; achievement; as, the works of bloody Mars. – Pope.
9. Operation. As to the composition or dissolution of mixed bodies, which is the chief work of elements.
10. Effect; that which proceeds from agency. Fancy / Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams. – Milton.
11. Management; treatment. – Shak.
12. That which is produced by mental labor; a composition; a book; as, the works of Addison.
13. Works, in the plural, walls, trenches and the like, made for fortifications.
14. In theology, moral duties or external performances, as distinct from grace. To set to work, or To set on work, to employ; to engage in any business. – Hooker.