Definition of JOB

job

Plural: jobs

Noun

  • the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
  • a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee
    • "estimates of the city's loss on that job ranged as high as a million dollars"
    • "the job of repairing the engine took several hours"
  • a workplace; as in the expression
    • "on the job"
  • an object worked on; a result produced by working
    • "he held the job in his left hand and worked on it with his right"
  • the responsibility to do something
    • "it is their job to print the truth"
  • the performance of a piece of work
    • "she did an outstanding job as Ophelia"
    • "he gave it up as a bad job"
  • a damaging piece of work
    • "dry rot did the job of destroying the barn"
    • "the barber did a real job on my hair"
  • a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved
    • "it is always a job to contact him"
  • a Jewish hero in the Old Testament who maintained his faith in God in spite of afflictions that tested him
  • any long-suffering person who withstands affliction without despairing
  • (computer science) a program application that may consist of several steps but is a single logical unit
  • a book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply
  • a crime (especially a robbery)
    • "the gang pulled off a bank job in St. Louis"
  • A task.
  • An economic role for which a person is paid.
  • Plastic surgery.
  • A sex act.
  • A task, or series of tasks, carried out in batch mode (especially on a mainframe computer).
  • A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
  • A robbery or heist.
  • Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
  • A thing or whatsit (often used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).
  • The police as a profession, act of policing, or an individual police officer.
  • A penis.
  • A sudden thrust or stab; a jab or punch.

Verb

Verb Forms: jobbed, jobbing, jobs

  • To work at a specific task, often by the piece or odd jobs.
  • profit privately from public office and official business
  • arranged for contracted work to be done by others
  • work occasionally
    • "As a student I jobbed during the semester breaks"
  • invest at a risk
  • To do odd jobs or occasional work for hire.
  • To work as a jobber.
  • To take the loss, usually in a demeaning or submissive manner.
  • To buy and sell for profit, as securities; to speculate in.
  • To subcontract a project or delivery in small portions to a number of contractors.
  • To seek private gain under pretence of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
  • To hire or let in periods of service.
  • To peck (of a bird); (more generally) to poke or prod (at, into).
  • To pierce or poke (someone or something), typically with a sharp or pointed object; to stab.
  • To hit (someone) with a quick, sharp punch; to jab.

Examples

  • a bank job
  • hand job
  • He had a nose job.
  • He tried to job the tiles into a word, but the letters just wouldn’t cooperate.
  • He's been out of a job since being made redundant in January.
  • I've got a job for you: could you wash the dishes?
  • Pass me that little job with the screw thread on it.
  • That surgeon has a great job.
  • to job a carriage
  • We wanted to sell a turnkey plant, but they jobbed out the contract to small firms.

Origin / Etymology

From the phrase jobbe of work (“piece of work”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”); or perhaps related to Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), or Middle English choppe (“piece, bargain”). More at gob, jab, chop.

Scrabble Score: 12

job: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
job: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
job: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

job: valid Words With Friends Word