1.To exert one's self for a purpose; to put forth effort for the attainment of an object; to labor; to be engaged in the performance of a task, a duty, or the like. "O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work, To match thy goodness?" "Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you." "Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake, Our life doth pass."
2.Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform; as, a machine works well. "We bend to that the working of the heart."
3.Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or influence; to conduce. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." "This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught." "She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him."
4.To carry on business; to be engaged or employed customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor; to toil. "They that work in fine flax... shall be confounded."
5.To be in a state of severe exertion, or as if in such a state; to be tossed or agitated; to move heavily; to strain; to labor; as, a ship works in a heavy sea. "Confused with working sands and rolling waves."
6.To make one's way slowly and with difficulty; to move or penetrate laboriously; to proceed with effort; with a following preposition, as down, out, into, up, through, and the like; as, scheme works out by degrees; to work into the earth. "Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportioned to each kind."
7.To ferment, as a liquid. "The working of beer when the barm is put in."
8.To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a cathartic. "Purges... work best, that is, cause the blood so to do,... in warm weather or in a warm room."
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