Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WORE, v. [pret. of Wear.]

He wore gloves.

WORE, v. [pret. of Ware.]

They wore ship.

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.

WORK, v.i. [pret. and pp. worked or wrought. Sax. weorcan, wircan, wyrcan; Goth. waurkyan; D. werken; G. wirken; Sw. virka, verka; Dan. virker; Gr. εργαζομαι.]

1. In a general sense, to move, or to move one way and the other; to perform; as in popular language it is said, a mill or machine works well.
2. To labor; to be occupied in performing manual labor, whether severe or moderate. One man works better than another; one man works hard; another works lazily.
3. To be in action or motion; as, the working of the heart. – Shak.
4. To act; to carry on operations. Our better part remains / To work in close design. – Milton.
5. To operate; to carry on business; to be customarily engaged or employed in. Some work in the mines, others in the loom, others at the anvil. They that work in fine flax. – Isa. xix.
6. To ferment; as, unfermented liquors work violently in hot weather.
7. To operate; to produce effects by action or influence. All things work together for good to them that love God. – Rom. viii. This so wrought upon the child, that afterward he desired to be taught. – Locke.
8. To obtain by diligence. [Little used.] – Shak.
9. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels; as a cathartic.
10. To labor; to strain; to move heavily; as, a ship works in a tempest.
11. To be tossed or agitated. Confus'd with working sands and rolling waves. – Addison.
12. To enter by working; as, to work into the earth. To work on, to act on; to influence. To work up, to make way. Body shall up to spirit work. – Milton. To work to windward, among seamen, to sail or ply against the wind; to beat. – Mar. Dict.

WORK, v.t.

1. To move; to stir and mix; as, to work mortar.
2. To form by labor; to mold, shape or manufacture; as, to work wood or iron into a form desired, or into an utensil; to work cotton or wool into cloth.
3. To bring into any state by action. A foul stream, or new wine or cider, works itself clear.
4. To influence by acting upon; to manage; to lead. And work your royal father to his ruin. – Philips.
5. To make by action, labor or violence. A stream works a passage or a new channel. Sidelong he works his way. – Milton.
6. To produce by action, labor or exertion. We might work any effect … only by the unity of nature. Bacon. Each herb he knew, that works or good or ill. – Harte.
7. To embroider; as, to work muslin.
8. To direct the movements of, by adapting the sails to the wind; as, to work a ship.
9. To put to labor; to exert. Work every nerve. – Addison.
10. To cause to ferment, as liquor. To work out, to effect by labor and exertion. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. – Phil. ii. #2. To erase; to efface. [Not used.] #3. To solve, as a problem. To work up, to raise; to excite; as, to work up the passions to rage. The sun that rolls his chariot o'er their heads / Works up more tire and color in their cheeks. – Addison. #2. To expend in any work, as materials. They have worked up all the stock. To work double tides, in the language of seamen, to perform the labor of three days in two; a phrase taken from the practice of working by the night tide as well as by the day. To work into, to make way, or to insinuate; as, to work one's self into favor or confidence. To work a passage, among seamen, to pay for a passage by doing duty on board of the ship.

WORK'A-BLE, a.

That can be worked, or that is worth working; as, a workable mine; workable coal. – Hitchcock. Conybeare.

WORK'ED, pp.

Moved; labored; performed; managed; fermented.

WORK'ER, n.

One that works; one that performs.

WORK-FEL-LOW, n.

One engaged in the same work with another. – Rom. xvi.

WORK-FOLK, n.

Persons that labor. [Obs.] – Beaum.

WORK-HOUSE, or WORK-ING-HOUSE, n.

1. A house where any manufacture is carried on.
2. Generally, a house in which idle and vicious persons are confined to labor.

WORK-ING, n.

1. Motion; the act of laboring. – Shak.
2. Fermentation. – Bacon.
3. Movement; operation; as, the workings of fancy.

WORK-ING, ppr.

Moving; operating; laboring; fermenting.

WORK-ING-DAY, n. [work and day.]

Any day of the week, except the sabbath.

WORK-MAN, n. [work and man.]

1. Any man employed in labor, whether in tillage or manufactures.
2. By way of eminence, a skillful artificer or laborer.

WORK-MAN-LIKE, a.

Skillful; well performed.

WORK-MAN-LY, a.

Skillful; well performed.

WORK-MAN-LY, adv.

In a skillful manner; in a manner becoming a workman. – Tusser.

WORK-MAN-SHIP, n.

1. Manufacture; something made, particularly by manual labor. – Exod. xxxi.
2. That which is effected, made or produced. – Eph. ii.
3. The skill of a workman; or the execution or manner of making any thing. The workmanship of this cloth is admirable.
4. The art of working. – Woodward.

WORK'MAS-TER, n. [work and master.]

The performer of any work. – Spenser.

WORK-SHOP, n. [work and shop.]

A shop where any manufacture is carried on.

WORK'WOM-AN, n.

A woman who performs any work; or one skilled in needle work. – Spenser.

WORLD, n. [Sax. weorold, woruld; D. waereld; Sw. verld. This seems to be a compound word, and probably is named from roundness, the vault; but this is not certain.]

1. The universe; the whole system of created globes or vast bodies of matter.
2. The earth; the terraqueous globe; sometimes called the lower world.
3. The heavens; as when we speak of the heavenly world, or upper world.
4. System of beings; or the orbs which occupy space, and all the beings which inhabit them. – Heb. xi. God … hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds. – Heb. i. There may be other worlds, where the inhabitants have never violated their allegiance to their Almighty sovereign. – W. B. Sprague.
5. Present state of existence; as, while we are in the world. Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. Ps. lxxiii.
6. A secular life. By the world we sometimes understand the things of this world, its pleasures and interests. A great part of mankind are more anxious to enjoy the world than to secure divine favor.
7. Public life or society; as banished from the world. – Shak.
8. Business or trouble of life. From this world-wearied flesh. – Shak.
9. A great multitude or quantity; as, a world of business; a world of charms. – Milton.
10. Mankind; people in general; in an indefinite sense. Let the world see your fortitude. Whose disposition, all the world well knows. – Shak.
11. Course of life. He begins the world with little property, but with many friends.
12. Universal empire. This through the east just vengeance head, / And lost poor Antony the world. – Prior.
13. The customs and manners of men; the practice of life. A knowledge of the world is necessary for a man of business; it is essential to politeness.
14. All the world contains. Had I a thousand worlds, I would give them all for one year more to devote to God. – Law.
15. The principal nations or countries of the earth. Alexander conquered the world.
16. The Roman empire. – Scripture.
17. A large tract of country; a wide compass of things. I must descry new worlds. – Cowley.
18. The inhabitants of the earth; the whole human race. – John iii.
19. The carnal state or corruption of the earth; as, the present evil world; the course of this world. Gal. i. Eph. ii.
20. The ungodly part of the world. I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given me. John xvii.
21. Time; as in the phrase, world without end.
22. A collection of wonders. [Not in use.] In the world, in possibility. All the precaution in the world would not save him. For all the world, exactly. [Little used.] – Sidney. #2. For any consideration.

WORLD'HARD-EN-ED, a.

Hardened by the love of worldly things.

WORLD-LI-NESS, n. [from world.]

A predominant passion for obtaining the good things of this life; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments.