Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Work \Work\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Worked}, or {Wrought}; p. pr.
   & vb. n. {Working}.] [AS. wyrcean (imp. worthe, wrohte, p. p.
   geworht, gewroht); akin to OFries. werka, wirka, OS. wirkian,
   D. werken, G. wirken, Icel. verka, yrkja, orka, Goth.
   wa['u]rkjan. [root]145. See {Work}, n.]
   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?                   --Shak.

            Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw
            be given you.                         --Ex. v. 18.

            Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake, Our life
            doth pass.                            --Sir J.
                                                  Davies.

   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. --Shak.

   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.                   --Rom. viii.
                                                  28.

            This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he
            desired to be taught.                 --Locke.

            She marveled how she could ever have been wrought
            upon to marry him.                    --Hawthorne.

   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.                           --Isa. xix. 9.

   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.
                                                  --Addison.

   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.                         --Milton.

   7. To ferment, as a liquid.

            The working of beer when the barm is put in.
                                                  --Bacon.

   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.
                                                  --Grew.