n.
- A regular activity performed in exchange for payment, especially as one's trade, occupation, or profession.
- A position in which one is employed.
- A task that must be done: Washing the windows is not my job.
- A specified duty or responsibility. See synonyms at task.
- A specific piece of work to be done for a set fee: an expensive repair job.
- The object to be worked on.
- Something resulting from or produced by work.
- Computer Science. A program application that may consist of several steps but is performed as a single logical unit.
- Informal. A difficult or strenuous task: It was a real job to convince them to drop the charges.
- Informal. A bad or unsatisfactory piece of work: The stylist did a real job on my hair.
- Informal. A state of affairs: Their marriage was a bad job from the start. It's a good job that we left early to avoid the traffic.
- Informal. A criminal act, especially a robbery: a bank job.
- Informal. An example of a specified type, especially of something made or constructed. Often used in combination: a new building that is just another glass and steel job; a cowboy hat that is one of those ten-gallon jobs.
v., jobbed, job·bing, jobs. v.intr.
- To work at odd jobs.
- To work by the piece.
- To act as a jobber.
- To purchase (merchandise) from manufacturers and sell it to retailers.
- To arrange for (contracted work) to be done in portions by others; subcontract.
- To transact (official business) dishonestly for private profit.
on the job
- Paying close attention; on the alert.
[Perhaps from obsolete jobbe, piece, alteration of Middle English gobbe, lump. See gob1.]
job2 (jŏb) Archaic.
tr. & intr.v., jobbed, job·bing, jobs.
To jab or make a jab.
n.
A jab.
[Middle English jobben, of imitative origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
