3. That which is produced as the result of labor; anything accomplished
by exertion or toil; product; performance; fabric; manufacture; in a
more general sense, act, deed, service, effect, result, achievement,
feat.
To leave no rubs or blotches in the work.
Shak.
The work some praise, And some the architect.
Milton.
Fancy . . . Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams.
Milton.
The composition or dissolution of mixed bodies . . . is the chief work
of elements.
Sir K. Digby.
4. Specifically: (a) That which is produced by mental labor; a
composition; a book; as, a work, or the works, of Addison. (b) Flowers,
figures, or the like, wrought with the needle; embroidery.
I am glad I have found this napkin; . . . I'll have the work ta'en out,
And give 't Iago.
Shak.
(c) pl. Structures in civil, military, or naval engineering, as docks,
bridges, embankments, trenches, fortifications, and the like; also, the
structures and grounds of a manufacturing establishment; as, iron
works; locomotive works; gas works. (d) pl. The moving parts of a
mechanism; as, the works of a watch.
5. Manner of working; management; treatment; as, unskillful work
spoiled the effect. Bp. Stillingfleet.
6. (Mech.) The causing of motion against a resisting force. The amount
of work is proportioned to, and is measured by, the product of the
force into the amount of motion along the direction of the force. See
Conservation of energy, under Conservation, Unit of work, under Unit,
also Foot pound, Horse power, Poundal, and Erg.
Energy is the capacity of doing work . . . Work is the transference of
energy from one system to another.
Clerk Maxwell.