[f. WORK v. + -ING1. Cf. MDu., MLG. werkinge, OHG. wer(a)chunga, MHG. werkunge; MHG. wurkung; (MH)G. wirkung.] The action of WORK v.; the result of this.
I. 1. Performance of work or labor; † formerly also, that which is done, work.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11997. Qui dos þou men sli plaint to mak, For þi wircking on vr sabbat? Ibid. (13[?]), 5522 (Gött.). We sal find wirking for þair sake; Apon þair neckes sal þai bere Bollis wid stan and wid mortere.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 605. Coterellis, rentis, workyngis, helpis, wardis, relefis.
1494. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 245. For vj dayis wyrken, vj s.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 186. To se where the treasure will finde them workinge, To the profit of the Citye.
1579. Rice, Invect. Vices, B iij. Is Carde plaiyng woorkyng? Is the blasphemie of Goddes moste holie name a woorkyng?
1616. Sir E. Mountagu, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 249. He … wondered at what you had told him of my mother’s working, being stone blind.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 357. There has been no working in the Gold Mine for this long time.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iii. 147. The working upon the wreck, and the securing the provisions.
1832. P. Egan’s Bk. Sports, 237/1. I like to see the working of the hounds; to see them in difficulty; to mark the threading, the stopping, the eagerness to find.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, iv. The laws of the State forbid their working more than nine months in the year.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 14 April, 2/3. Working is agreeable to my nature and to my health.
† 2. Performance, execution, achievement (of some particular work or action); procedure. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xiii. (Marcus), 50. Of þe virkine Of ferly werkis þat he wrocht.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. xii. 10. The worchinge of vertues.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 276. To se the worchinge of the dede.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 136. In Suche shewynge and oppyne wyrchynge of good werkes.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 21. A maner of wirchyng in fistula in ano.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xiii. 224. Bi her … wirching of miraclis.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 74 b. In declynynge from euyll, and in dylygent workynge of good.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. viii. 143. For the working whereof, the vapors and exhalations of the sea, are sufficient.
1611. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 530. For ye working of their other endes.
1675. A. Browne, Appendix Art Paint., 10. Observe that you be not too Curious in the first Working, but rather make choice of a good Free and Bold Following of Nature.
1693. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 261. In which Fig. 1. is shewn the usual way of bad Working.
† 3. Making, manufacture, production, preparation, construction; also, the manner or style in which something is made, handiwork, workmanship. Obs.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 49. We han a wyndow in worching [C. IV. 51 a worchyng] wol stonden vs ful heiȝe.
1452. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 282. iij sengulere Principalls in werkyng in inbowyng and in Scantlyon accordyng to the Principalls.
1460–70. Bk. Quinte Essence, 5. Anoþer maner worchinge of oure quinta essencia is þis.
1406. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 278. For werking of the irne werk to the samyn hous, vj li. xij d.
1535. in Gage, Hengrave (1822), 5. For working of ij doores.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iii. (1878), 94. A thousand such tryfelyng thyngys, wych other we myght wel lake, or els, at the lest, our owne pepul myght be occupyd wyth the workyng therof.
1601. Act 43 Eliz., c. 10 (title), An Acte for the true workinge and makinge of Wollen Clothe.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., IV. xx. Two streets … Of severall stuffe, and severall working fram’d.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ii. 21. I shall now shew you the working of a Spring-lock.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 55. The difference between the working of a Vault and a Wall.
4. The action of operating or performing work upon something; manipulation, management (of an apparatus, a vessel in navigation, etc.); exploitation (of a mine, etc.); also in Angling (see quot. 1880).
† In (the) working: being worked upon, when worked upon; in operation; in use.
1450. Rolls of Parlt., V. 202/1. No maner of Merchaundises … of the growyng nor wurkyng of the Landes and parties that the seide Duke … occupieth.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., II. (Arb.), 114. Whan the backe and the bellye [of the bow] in woorkynge, be muche what after one maner.
1577. Harrison, England, III. i. 95 b/1 in Holinshed. Because it [sc. brown bread] is dry and brickle in the working … some adde a portion of rye meale.
1618. Ralegh, Apol. Guiana, 57. The working of a Myne there.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, I. (1704), 190/1. They could not discern the Lord General’s Working, but stood their Course as before directed.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., xi. 201. When the Treddle comes down in working. Ibid., xiii. 222. A piece of Ivory … strong enough to bear working till they bring it to as small a Cilinder as they can.
1795. Local Act 35 Geo. III., c. 156 § 30. Nothing in this Act … shall … prevent the working or scouring of the same … Mines.
1831–3. P. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 546/2. This scraping, or working, as it is termed … renders the skin soft and pliant.
1853. Beil’s Technol. Wbch., Working of a blast-furnace (the mode of action to which the quality of iron is subjected).
1880. F. Francis, Bk. Angling, vi. (ed. 5), 225. You must … flip your fly to and fro to shake the water out and so dry it for another cast. This sometimes will require seven or eight ‘flips’ or workings to effect.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 535. Should it be wished during the lecture to introduce a mechanical slide,… the working of it is as follows.
1894. Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst., XXIII. 273. If they [sc. flints] possess definite characteristics of form, of wear, of weather, of material, of working, of position when found.
b. The carrying on or putting into operation (of a scheme, system, legislation, etc.).
1832. Edin. Rev., Oct., 245, heading, Working and Prospects of the Reform.
1845. C. F. Barker, Mem. on Syria, title-p., The Purchase and Tenure of Land, And the Working of the Old and New Tarif.
1847. Edin. Rev., April, 397. Exhibiting on that wide theatre the useful working of the fundamental institutions of the British monarchy.
1884. Stockton, Lady or Tiger? 5. His majesty, as well as all the people, was greatly interested in the workings and development of this trial.
1884. Dilke, in A. Cawston, Street Improv. London (1893), 101. The working of the byelaws in Birmingham under the 90th section of the Public Health Act.
1912. Engl. Hist. Rev., Jan., 43. There is evidence that some changes in the working of the chancery at once took place.
5. Action, operation. a. Of a person; esp. collect. sing. and pl. actions, doings, deeds. † Good working (rare): good works. Obs. or arch.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 386. God is so parfyte in alle his worchynge þat [etc.].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 698. The children of Mercurie and Venus Been in hir wirkyng ful contrarius.
c. 1400. Cursor M., 29141 (Cott. Galba). Þou may with him comun in dede, Bot þe wers may þi wirking spede.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6123. Thou most discouere all thi wurchyng, How thou seruest, and of what thyng.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 3169. Withoute engyn of fals werkyng. Ibid. (1426), De Guil. Pilgr., 11511. They sholde ellys for hunger deye, Ne were I & my werchyng.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 110. To wythstonde alle temptacyouns & to be perseueraunt in good werkyng.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xviii. 258. That he was lijk in wirching to a vyne.
c. 1480. Henryson, Swallow, i. The hie prudence, and wirking meruelous,… of god omnipotent.
1539. Morison, Invect. agst. Treas., title-p., Wherein the secrete practises, and traiterous workinges of theym that suffrid of late are disclosed.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. ii. § 2. The being of God is a kind of Law to his working.
1692. L’Estrange, Fables, cxlvii. 134. The Wayes and Workings of Providence are unsearchable.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 21. Against Wind and Tide too, there’s no Working.
1742. Richardson, Pamela (1785), IV. 146. I leave you to your own workings.
1874. W. P. Mackay, Grace & Truth, 220. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we have depicted a remarkable series of Satan’s workings.
1909. W. James, Unveiled Heart, 70. Almighty and Everliving God,… it is Thy glory to conceal Thy workings.
† b. Of a thing; sometimes pl., functions. Obs. in general sense.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4907. Þe wirkyng of þe fire swa brinnand.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. i. (1495), Y j b/2. Membres [of beestys] ben … dyuers in werkynge, as it faryth in the eeres of the olyphaunt with the whyche he fyghteth.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 80. Alle þe fyue wyttes þat sholde gouerne … alle þe wyrkynges of þe body.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xvi. 242. That the seid parties of heuen reuliden ful myche the worchingis of bodies here binethe in the louȝer world.
c. 1460. Sir R. Ros, La Belle Dame, 342 (Camb. MS.). Loue is sotyle,… Scharpe in worchyng.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 10. In Aperill quhen cleithit is … The abill grounde be wyrking off natur.
c. Of a drug, medicine, etc.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 45. Þat worchyng shal better done and soner if þe secounde day after þe puttyng to of arsenek be putte to larde wiþ þe emplastre sanguiboetes.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 96. The lesse kynde [of Poly] is … more effectuus or stronger in working.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 1 b. She shal whilest she is in sleepe imbrace hir husband through the working of this stone.
1580. T. B[edford], Treat. Med. (1615), 17. These strange workings of these foreigne drugges in our bodies.
1631. Widdowes, Nat. Philos., 39. His Rozen is in smell, taste, and working better than common Turpentine.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 79. After my physicks working.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 281/2. It is a good Medicine for the Purposes intended…. In the working of it, you must be sure to provide two or three Quarts of Posset-drink … aforehand.
d. Of the mind, conscience, etc. Often pl.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 33. Glory growes guiltie … When for Fames sake … We bend to that, the working of the hart. Ibid. (1591), 1 Hen. VI., V. v. 86. I am sicke with working of my thoughts. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., xciii. What ere thy thoughts, or thy hearts workings be. Ibid. (1602), Ham., II. ii. 580. From her working all his visage wann’d.
1707. Rowe, Royal Convert, V. i. The secret workings of my Brain, Stand all reveal’d to thee.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1768), III. 310. Who can account for the workings of an apprehensive mind, when all that is dear and valuable to it is at stake?
1798. S. & Ht. Lee, Cant. T., II. 380. A friend … would find a generous pleasure in aiding the workings of an ingenuous nature.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, XII. ii. His brain, with busier workings.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. III. Hermann. Workings Of conscience.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xii. 138, note. The Archdeacon now gets very eloquent, and gives us all the inner workings of the mind.
e. The conduct or operations collectively of a factory, vessel, or the like.
1873. Act 36 & 37 Vict., c. 71 § 58. Any grating … placed so as … to interfere with the effective working of any mill.
1920. Goode, Econ. Cond. Centr. Europe, I. 12. In full working the cotton mills of Russia consumed about 1,500,000 bales of cotton per annum just previous to the war.
1920. Act 10 & 11 Geo. V., c. 30 Sch. I. II. The profits or the gross earnings of the working of the vessel.
6. Influential operation; influence, effectiveness; also, the result or effect of operation or influence. Somewhat arch.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. xi. (1868), 95. Whan þei ben gadred to-gidre al in to a forme and in to oon wirchyng [orig. in unam veluti formam atque efficientiam].
1414. Brampton, Penit. Ps. (Percy Soc.), 24. Thanne schal the werkyng be ful sene Of ‘Ne reminiscaris, Domine!’
1450–1530. Myrr. our Ladye, I. xii. 34. Whan they began to prayse god; god tornyd tho enemys eche of them agenste other…. A maruelous werkyng of goddes seruyce.
1547. Homilies, I. Exhort. rdg. Holy Script., ij b. [The words of Scripture] haue euer an heauenly spiritual workinge in them.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 14. Throw wirking of the Spirite in til our hart.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xxiii. (1912), 295. Her fayre colour decaied;… and hastily grew into the very extreme working of sorowfulnesse.
1592. Timme, Ten Engl. Lepers, E 2 b. There is as great defference betwene the working of hypocrisie and the working of grace, as betwene the working of arte, and the operation of nature.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 96. 291. The Workings of Superstition are insinuating and slow.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. xix. The workings of a parent’s love upon the truth and conviction of this very hypothesis.
1861. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xi. 150, note. The working of clerical prejudice in … a liberal mind.
1875. Manning, Mission Holy Ghost, i. 10. Faith, hope, and charity, are the three primary workings of the Holy Ghost in the soul.
7. Mathematical calculation; the process of calculating, or performing the necessary mathematical operations for ascertaining, a quantity, etc. Now chiefly, the statement of the operations involved in solving a mathematical problem.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 552. By his .8. speere in his wirkyng He knew ful wel how fer Alnath was shoue. Ibid. (c. 1391), Astrol., II. § 35. This is the workinge of the conclusioun, to knowe yif þat any planete be directe or retrograde.
a. 1400. in Halliw., Rara Mathem. (1841), 61. Þat leves after þi wirkyng es þe heght fro A poynte to þe heght of þe thyng.
c. 1425. Crafte Nombrynge, 30. Þou most know well þe craft of þe wyrchynge in þe tabulle.
1543. Recorde, Gr. Artes, 123. Ye same yt appeareth of ye other working before.
1654. J. Eyre, Exact Surveyor, 75. Which by the working according to the former directions, will be found to be about 63 yards.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, xvi. The observation every day at noon, and the subsequent working of the ship’s course.
1873. Todhunter, Confl. Studies, 74. That a knowledge of mathematics may be gained without the perpetual working of examples.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Nov., 3/1. No marks are to be allowed in the arithmetic paper unless the candidate shows up the ‘working’ of the sums as well as the final result.
† 8. Aching; ache, pain. Obs.
a. 1400. Stockholm Med. MS., 96. For werkyng of the hed. Ibid., 151. For wynd in þe hed, & werkyng in þe hed. Ibid., i. 11, in Anglia, XVIII. 295. Ȝif a man … In hys heed hath gret sekenesse, Or ony grewaunce or ony werkynge.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 76. Corupcioun of sight, werkynge of þe brayn. Ibid., 77. He felys his mete bitter in his brest, and werkyng of þe koghe.
b. Stomachic or intestinal disturbance. Obs.
1577. Stanyhurst, Descr. Irel., ii. 4 b/1 in Holinshed. Beyng moderately taken … it [sc. Aqua vitæ] kepeth … the belly from wirtchyng.
1650. Venner, Via Recta, Tobacco, 407. So … as to cause a violent and sickly working both upward and downward.
1717. Floyer, Asthma, i. 9. A loose Stool frequently happens from the great working in the Belly, occasion’d by the Fit.
9. Fermentation of liquor.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Aestus mustulentus, the fomyng or sprincling vp of newe wine, in ale we call it workyng.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 992. Staying the Working of Beere.
1662. Charleton, Myst. Vintners (1675), 153. Sickly commotions, or (to speak in the dialect of Wine-coopers) Workings.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 561. It will set your Wine in a gentle working, and purifie it in twenty four Hours.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Wash, With respect to the … workings of this liquor, great regard is to be had to the containing vessel.
1826. Art Brewing (ed. 2), 103. Conclude the fermentation in from 40 to 50 hours, and when it is cleansed do not fill up too frequently, for it will work off with great rapidity: rather, by moderate fillings, encourage its working.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1324. Unless the weather be very severe, the working (as it is called) proceeds equally well with that removed to the vaults or cellars.
10. Restless movement of water (esp. the sea); straining of a ship, a vehicle, etc., so as to loosen the fittings.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. xxix. 73. The Seas went so high … they thought it unpossible for the shippes to escape;… by the working of them it was thought, that sometime they did hoyse up theyr shippes aboue the Element.
1662. R. Venables, Exper. Angler, iii. 34. The working of the Lough makes it sandy.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iv. 157. The water the Pink had made by her working and straining in bad weather.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 301. By the continual working of the carriage [sc. a carrier’s cart], two of them had been broken.
1892. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., 414. The working of the frames of locomotives signifies the loosening of their joints, due to the strains communicated to them by the engines.
1901. Scotsman, 6 Nov., 10/5. Owing to the working of the masts the deck was opening up.
b. Involuntary movement of the face or mouth, esp. due to emotion.
1800. Wordsw., Pet Lamb, 18. I unobserved could see the workings of her face.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. As if to prevent his seeing the working of his countenance.
1844. Eliz. Sewell, Amy Herbert, xi. I. 201. The working of her forehead showed the storm that was gathering.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, lii. Lighting a candle, which displayed the workings of her mouth [sc. ‘mumbling and munching’] to ugly advantage.
11. The proper action or movement of a piece of mechanism or the like.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. II. xi. (1890), 110. To hinder the working of your Fire-works.
1727. [Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 38. Quarll … was astride on the main yard, with a hatchet to cut down what stopped the working of it.
1827. Ann. Reg., Chron., 77/1. The only noise he heard … was the working of a neighbouring pump.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, ix. The workings of his lungs pumped great jets of blood out.
12. Gradual movement or progress (as against resistance).
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xi. ¶ 23. It will so enrage the Oyl, and raise the Scum, that it might endanger the working over the top of the Kettle.
1802. Playfair, Illustr. Huttonian Theory, 401. The working of water collected from the rains and the snows.
II. concr. † 13. Decorative work. Obs.
1536. in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771), 193. Curiously ornate with dyvers workings and chasings.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4373/4. A … Purse, worked round with 3 distinct Rows of Gold Working.
14. A place in which mineral is or has been worked; a mining excavation.
1766. Ann. Reg., Chron., 86. The foul air in an old working took fire.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 969. Many water-logged fissures come to be cut by the workings.
1872. Echo, 8 Oct., 3. An explosion … occurred in a part of the working which extends in a northerly direction beneath the town.
1912. Times, 10 July, 8/1. While a rescue party was below in the workings, another explosion, or series of explosions, took place, as a result of which the initial death-roll was more than doubled.
III. 15. With adverbs, as working-off, -out, -together, -up (see WORK v. 39); also attrib.
1662. Evelyn, Sculptura, iii. 33. They also engrave upon stone, and imprint with it; but with this difference in the *working-off; that the paper being black, the Sculpture remains white.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 240. By being careful in the operation of working off, a thinner paper is employed.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxxii. Let him have his humour…. It may be the working off of his madness.
1842. Manning, Serm., i. (1848), 17. All the face of the world bespeaks the *working-out of the prophecy.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib., III. xx. ‘It will be the working-out of my visions,’ said Henry.
1894. C. N. Robinson, Brit. Fleet, 215. The working out of Descharge’s idea revolutionized sea warfare.
1914. Brit. Mus. Return, 184. The determination and working out of the Tabanidæ of Tropical Africa.
1623. Cockeram, II. A *working together, cooperation.
1678. Rymer, Trag. last Age, 76. If the Poet observe not these measures, the *working up of a Scene, is plainly the tormenting of nature, and holding our ears to the Grindstone.
1817. J. Scott, Paris Revisit. (ed. 4), 135. All … is done … under the force of artificial impulse, causing what is called a working-up.
1893. Daily News, 6 Feb., 7/4. Best steel working up sheets.
1913. Athenæum, 10 May, 528/1. To lack sustained interest, also a working-up to a strong climax.
IV. 16. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib.: = of or for working or the performance of a certain work, as working hour(s, humour, life, light, method, part, rate, talent, time, -week (cf. WORKING-DAY 2), week-day, year; = used or worn when one is working, as working apron, clothes, dress, † gear, instrument, † stole (STOOL sb. 6), stone, tool; = pertaining or necessary to, involved in, the conduct of a business, etc., as working capital, costs, expenses, fund; = belonging to or situated in or at a working (sense 14), as working breast, drift, face, floor, headway, pit. b. Special comb.: working-arch, a tymp-arch; working-barrel, the cylinder in which the piston of a pump works; working-beam, a walking beam; working-big a. (see quot.); † working-box, = work-box (WORK sb. 34 d); † working canvas, canvas upon which embroidery is worked; working cylinder, working door (see quots.); working drawing, usually pl., the drawings made of the plan, etc., of a building from which the workmen employed carry out the construction of the work; working heat (see quot.); working-hole, (a) the opening in a furnace at which the melted glass is drawn out; (b) any of the holes that bees use in working; working load, the maximal load that a member in a machine or other structure is designed to bear; working order, a condition in which a machine, system, etc., works (well, badly, etc.); working outline, an outline that forms the basis of a finished drawing; working place, † (a) a workshop; (b) the place at which a worker executes his work, spec. that at which a miner is engaged in excavation; working point, the ‘point’ in a machine at which the useful work is done; working rate (see quot.); working room, (a) space in which one may work, room for the performance of work; (b) a work-room; † working school, a kind of industrial school; † working-shop, = WORKSHOP 1; working-tube, a glass-worker’s blowing-iron; working-tun, a vessel in which fermentation takes place.
1769. Lady Mary Coke, Jrnl., 4 May (1892), III. 67. I had but just time to throw off my *Working Apron.
1853. Beil’s Technol. Wbch., *Working arches … of a blast furnace.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 750/1. To return the pump pistons into their places at the bottom of their respective *working barrels, in order that they also may make a working stroke. Ibid., 751/1. The rod X of the piston P is suspended from the arch of the *working-beam.
1849–50. Weale’s Dict. Terms, *Working-big, in mining, signifies sufficiently large for a man to work in.
1838. in N. & Q., 11th Ser. I. 423/1. I give to Miss Anne Smith … my small inlaid *Working Box.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Put, to convey coal from the *working breast to the tramway.
1612. Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 319. Linning cloth … *working canves for cusheonis.
1657. Acts of Interregn. (1911), II. 1213. Canvas called … Working Canvas for Cushions.
1912. Pitman’s Commerc. Encycl., IV. 1690. The *working capital of a business is the amount available for conducting its operations after it has been equipped in such a manner as to be in the condition desired in regard to fixed assets.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 309. Dressed in ordinary *working clothes of varied colours.
1912. Times, 19 Dec., 19/2. The *working costs, including the London expenses.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 143. Such low steam … being admitted into a steam-vessel…, or *working cylinder,… will there be expanded in any ratio required.
1853. Beil’s Technol. Wbch., Working cylinder, principal cylinder of a water-pressure engine. Ibid., *Working door of a reverberatory furnace (that opening through which the crucible is brought).
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 393. The furnace has a working door at the side, and a charging door at the end.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., xxvii. (ed. 3), 262. The actual execution from *working drawings.
1887. D. A. Low, Machine Draw., Pref. p. iv. The illustrations for this work … have been specially prepared by the author from working drawings.
1853. Mrs. Moodie, Life in Clearings, 59. Only in her coloured flannel *working-dress.
1882. Rep. Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S., 639. Further connections between these cross-drifts are made by *working-drifts parallel to the central one.
1868. N. Amer. Rev., Jan., 46. It is to be regretted that there is no complete and uniform system of returns for *working expenses, gross receipts, &c.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 73. *Working face, the place where the miner is excavating the mineral.
1914. Brit. Mus. Return, 90. An important series of implements and flakes from *working-floors in or below brick-earth at Round Green near Luton.
1905. ‘G. Thorne,’ Lost Cause, x. Do you think it wise to mention a contribution to the *working fund just now?
1638. Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), II. 170. All my loume, *working geare and my husbandrie geare. Ibid. (1640), 174. All my working geare which belong to my trade.
1790. Act 30 Geo. III., c. 21 § 1. To make, erect,… Water Wheels, Fire Engines, Mills, Machinery, Working Gears,… for raising … Water from the said River Wenson.
1855. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 242. Running a gallery … above the *working headway to the highest place worked.
1782. Phil. Trans., LXXII. 320. The fire is afterwards increased, for working the glass, to what is called the *working heat; and this I found, in plate-glass, to be 57°.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 577. Semi-circular holes … a little above the top of each pot, called *working holes.
1868. Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 276. I pack them [sc. bees] closely on benches in the cellar, leaving the box and working-holes open.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, vii. After *working hours the evening before.
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xxi. (1898), 154. His pay by the piece … gave him, as already stated, tenpence for every working hour.
1840. Dickens, Old Cur. Shop, xxxv. I’m in a *working humour now,… so don’t disturb me, if you please.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 305/2. *Werkynge instrument for sylke women.
1864. C. Knight (title), Passages of a *Working Life during half a century.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 459. A square of ruby fabric admits a safe *working light.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, vi. 102. If there’s a good working light to-morrow I lose a day.
1875. R. F. Martin, trans. Havrez’s Winding Mach., 19. A round steel rope would bear a *working load of 13·158 kilogs.
1912. Nature, 26 Dec., 460/1. Formulæ and tables selected from the *working methods of practical photographers.
1872. Chamb. Jrnl., 29 June, 410/2. The superintendent of the telegraph is to drive in an American buggy down the whole distance of seventeen hundred miles, to see that the line is in *working order.
1875. Higginson, Hist. U. S., xviii. 178. They at once began to get the militia into good working order.
1883. D. C. Murray, Hearts, xiii. Mark took care that his appetite, usually in good working order, should be deranged by the emotions of the morning.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Painting, 147. A finished drawing of the full size being ready, a part of this *‘working’ outline … is now nailed to the wall.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 84. The *working part [of architecture] may be helped by deliberation.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 72. The working Part of this Day.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 38. The whole Business of the working Part of building is this.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 617. [The fire] breaking down the … partition between the waste and the *working pit, made the most terrible explosion ever beheld.
1554–5. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Mary (1914), 176. ij dozen of Russhes for the *working places of thoffice.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, L’ouvroir d’vn chacun mestier, ou on besogne, a working place, a shop.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xxi. (1842), 562. Besides the working-place…, another, unconnected with the busy part of the laboratory, should be appointed.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 960. Each miner continues to advance his room or working-place.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 51. All the motion which has been accumulated on the fly during the whole progress of its accumulation, is exerted in an instant at the *working point.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 73. *Working rate, the rate per ton paid to a miner.
1775. Romans, Florida, App. 9. From Beak’s-Key, to the Riding Rocks, and Roques, there is *working room plenty, and good anchorage.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., i. (1842), 16. There is working room all round it.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 258. The atmosphere of their working-rooms is so poisonous that birds die after being exposed to it for a fortnight.
1787. Hawkins, Life of Johnson, 391. Dr. Madden, so well-known by his premiums for the encouragement of Protestant *working-schools in Ireland.
1783. Phil. Trans., LXXIII. 450. The dust of a *working-shop.
c. 1475[?]. Promp. Parv., 305/2 (Camb. MS.). Lyncet, a *werkynge stole.
1502. Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830), 7. For the stuff and making of iiij working stoles for the Quene … v s. iiij d.
1530. Palsgr., 250/1. Workyng stole fore a sylkeman, mettier.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 410/1. A *working stone: a stone that serueth to worke withall, as the whetstone.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 218. The *working system of the Thames Company is contract between owner and shipbuilder.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., iv. 66. The solid result depends on a few men with *working talent.
1783. Jrnl. Ho. Comm., XLVII. 372/2. The *Working Time that is now lost in making up the Bundles.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 101. Thou handledst no caruyng nor *woorkyng toole.
1690. Child, Disc. Trade (1698), 182. Not to hinder any man from keeping as many servants as he can, nor looms, working-tools, &c.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, 30. A people so barbarous, and destitute of all Working-Tools.
1869. Boutell, Arms & Armour, i. 3. Employing a second stone as his working-tool,… he struck off splinters from the first stone.
1845. G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., IV. 63. After the *working-tube has collected nearly sufficient colourless glass from one pot.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 572. Covering your Fat close, that it [sc. yeast] fall not in your *Working-Tun.
1890. J. E. C. Munro, in Rep. Brit. Assoc., 472. If the *working week was reduced from 561/2 to 48 hours.
1867. Aug. J. E. Wilson, Vashti, xiv. She remarked that your eyes were, in comparison with other folks’, what Sabbath is to *working week-days.
1913. Times, 13 Aug., 3/1. The *working years of life.
