What is "to go to work"

Work \Work\ (w[^u]rk), n. [OE. work, werk, weorc, AS. weorc, worc; akin to OFries. werk, wirk, OS., D., & G. werk, OHG. werc, werah, Icel. & Sw. verk, Dan. v[ae]rk, Goth. gawa['u]rki, Gr. 'e`rgon, [digamma]e`rgon, work, "re`zein to do, 'o`rganon an instrument, 'o`rgia secret rites, Zend verez to work. [root]145. Cf. Bulwark, Energy, Erg, Georgic, Liturgy, Metallurgy, Organ, Orgy, Surgeon, Wright.]

1. Exertion of strength or faculties; physical or intellectual effort directed to an end; industrial activity; toil; employment; sometimes, specifically, physical labor.

   Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed.
   --Milton.

2. The matter on which one is at work; that upon which one spends labor; material for working upon; subject of exertion; the thing occupying one; business; duty; as, to take up one's work; to drop one's work.

   Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand That you yet know not of.
   --Shak.

   In every work that he began . . . he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
   --2 Chron. xxxi. 21.

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:

   1. That which is produced by mental labor; a composition; a book; as, a work, or the works, of Addison.

   2. 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.

   3. 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.

   4. 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.

7. (Mining) Ore before it is dressed.
   --Raymond.

8. pl. (Script.) Performance of moral duties; righteous conduct.

   He shall reward every man according to his works.
   --Matt. xvi. 27.

   Faith, if it hath not works, is dead.
   --James ii. 17.

9. (Cricket) Break; twist. [Cant]

10. (Mech.) The causing of motion against a resisting force, measured by the product of the force into the component of the motion resolved along the direction of the force.

    Energy is the capacity of doing work. . . . Work is the transference of energy from one system to another.
    --Clerk Maxwell.

11. (Mining) Ore before it is dressed.

    Muscular work (Physiol.), the work done by a muscle through the power of contraction.

    To go to work, to begin laboring; to commence operations; to contrive; to manage. ``I 'll go another way to work with him.''
    --Shak.

    To set on work, to cause to begin laboring; to set to work. [Obs.]
    --Hooker.

    To set to work, to employ; to cause to engage in any business or labor.