[OE. wundorweorc = WFris. wonderwirk, MHG. wunderwerc (G. -werk), MDa. underværk, etc., f. WONDER sb. + WORK sb. In ME. treated as two words (cf. WONDER a.); in the modern period, a new formation.]
1. A marvelous or miraculous act; = MIRACLE 1. Also gen. a wonderful achievement.
971. Blickl. Hom., 161. Hie … wundorweorcum swiþe wuldorlice ascinon.
a. 1000. Andreas, 705. Swylce he [sc. Christ] oðerra unrim cyðde wundorworca on wera ʓesyhðe.
13[?]. Evang. Nicod., 39, in Herrig’s Archiv, LIII. 392. Þan wirkes he wonder werkes new.
13[?]. Cursor M., 1529 (Gött.). Þai þat þir wonþer werkes wroght.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machar), 30. In þis land we ken hymn nocht, Quhare he wondir werkis wrocht.
1570. Dee, Math. Pref., A j. By sundry meanes, this Wonderworke is wrought.
1846. Trench, Mirac., 60. While the Christians,… on account of a few insignificant wonder-works, proclaim their Jesus for a god.
1889. Jas. Gibbons, Our Chr. Heritage, 242. Saint John, referring to the wonder-works of Christ, says: [etc.].
2. A wonderful work or structure.
c. 1275. Lay., 17376. Þo gonnen hii wende … to þan hulle … war stod þat wonder worc.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 275. He bygan to bulde Seynt Albons his grete chirche from the foundement of a wonder werk of brend tyle.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. x. Fit speculation; such as … He found in wonder-works of God and Nature’s hand.
1887. T. W. Allies, Throne of Fisherman, 150. Forums which should surpass Trajan’s wonderwork.
1895. T. B. Dowden, in Outing (U.S.), XXVII. 238/1. These wonder works of the sea are broken in many places into the most fantastic forms through the ceaseless turmoil of the waves.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 22 Oct., 2/3. The hotel is, like everything else here, a wonder-work.
3. Marvelous work or workmanship.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., V. cxxxiii. (1811), 116. A beer of wonder warke, standith … ouer yt graue.
1863. Pilgrimage over Prairies, II. 265. Impassive spirits … whom the daily wonderwork of nature, her glorious displays of the solemn, the lovely and the wild, seem never … to affect.
1883. in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cxxxvi. 4. God was alone in the wonderwork of Creation.
