work something up Definition

work
noun

1. Physical or mental effort made in order to achieve or make something, eg labour, study, research, etc.
2. Employment.

Example: out of work
Thesaurus: occupation, profession, job, vocation, line, calling, employment, craft, trade, business, skill, avocation, pursuit.
3. One's place of employment.

Example: He leaves work at 4.30
4. Tasks to be done. Also in compounds.

Example: She often brings work home with her
Example: housework
Thesaurus: jobs, tasks, chores, assignments, projects, commitments, duties, obligations.
5. The product of mental or physical labour.

Example: His work has improved
Example: a lifetime's work
Thesaurus: performance, handiwork, output, endeavour, production.
6. A manner of working, or workmanship.
7a. Any literary, artistic, musical, or dramatic composition or creation;
7b. The entire collection of such material by an artist, composer or author, etc.

Form: works
8. Anything done, managed, made or achieved, etc; an activity carried out for some purpose.

Example: works of charity
9. old use
Needlework.
10. Things made in the material or with the tools specified; the production of such things.

Example: basketwork
11. The parts of a building, etc using a specified material.

Example: stonework
12. Building or repair operations.

Example: roadworks
Form: works
13. A rampart or defense.

Example: earthworks
Form: works
14. colloq
The operating parts of eg a watch or machine; the mechanism.
Thesaurus: parts, cogs, wheels, gears, pistons, springs, coils, chains, rods, pulleys, wires.
Form: works
15. The place of manufacture of a specified product.

Example: gasworks
Form: works
16. colloq
Everything possible, available or going; the whole lot
Example: She has a headache, fever, cold ― the works!
Thesaurus: everything, all, totality, entirety, the whole, the whole shebang.
Form: the works
17. physics.
The transfer of energy that occurs when force is exerted on a body to move it, measured in joules.

adj

1. Relating to, or suitable for, etc work.

Example: work clothes

verb worked, working

intr
1. To do work; to exert oneself mentally or physically; to toil, labour or study.

Thesaurus: labour, toil, do; slave, sweat, punch a time clock (US slang), work one's fingers to the bone, buckle down, work like a horse, work like a dog, put one's nose to the grindstone.
tr & intr
2. To be employed or have a job.
3. To impose tasks on someone; to make them labour.

Example: She works her staff hard
tr & intr
4. To operate, especially satisfactorily

Example: Does this radio work?
Thesaurus: function, go, run, serve, operate.
intr
5. Said of a plan or idea, etc: to be successful or effective.
intr
6. To function in a particular way.

Example: That's not how life works
intr
7. Said of a craftsman: to specialize in the use of a specified material.

Example: He works in brass
8. To shape or fashion (metals or other materials); to make by doing this.

Example: earrings worked in silver
9. To cultivate (land).
10. To extract materials from (a mine).
11. To knead (eg dough).
12. To cover (an area) as a salesman, etc.
13. To sew or embroider, etc.
14. To achieve (miracles, wonders, etc).

Thesaurus: accomplish, achieve, effect, manage.
15. colloq
To manipulate (a system or rules, etc) to one's advantage.
tr & intr
16. To make (one's way), or shift or make something shift gradually.

Example: work one's way forward
Example: worked the nail out of the wall
intr
17. Said eg of a screw: to become gradually (loose or free, etc).
intr
18. Said of the face or features: to move uncontrollably with emotion; to contort.
19. To exercise (a part of the body).
intr
20. Said of a liquid: to ferment.
21. To earn (one's sea passage) by unpaid work on board.

Derivative: workless
adj

Idiom: all in a day's work

Not being any more work or trouble than usual.

Idiom: give someone the works

colloq
To use every measure available in dealing with them, by way of eg punishment, coercion or welcome.

Idiom: have one's work cut out

colloq
To be faced with a challenging task.

Idiom: make short work of something or someone

To deal with it or them rapidly and effectively.
Thesaurus: finish off, deal with, dispose of, prevent, stop, put paid to.

Idiom: a ... piece (a ... bit of work)

colloq
A person, especially with regard to an unfavorable aspect of character or disposition.
Example: He's a nasty piece of work

Idiom: work to rule

To reduce efficiency by working strictly to official working rules, especially as a form of industrial action.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon weorc.

Phrasal Verb: work at something

To apply oneself to it.

Phrasal Verb: work in

Said of workers protesting against closure or redundancy, etc: to occupy work premises and take over the running of the business. See also work-in.

Phrasal Verb: work something in

To add and mix (an ingredient) into a mixture.To find a place for it; to fit it in.
Example: I'll work an appointment in somehow

Phrasal Verb: work something off

To get rid of (energy or the effects of a heavy meal) by energetic activity.

Phrasal Verb: work on someone

To use one's powers of persuasion on them.

Phrasal Verb: work on something

To try to perfect or improve it.To use it as a basis for one's decisions and actions.
Example: working on that assumption

Phrasal Verb: work out

To be successfully achieved or resolved.
Example: It'll all work out in the end
To perform a set of energetic physical exercises. See also workout.
Example: She's working out at the gym

Phrasal Verb: work something out

To solve it; to sort or reason it out.

Phrasal Verb: work someone over

To beat them up.

Phrasal Verb: work someone up

To excite or agitate them.

Phrasal Verb: work something up

To summon up (an appetite, enthusiasm or energy, etc).

Phrasal Verb: work up to something

To approach (a difficult task or objective) by gradual stages.