underwork

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ work.

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndə(ɹ)ˈwɜː(ɹ)k/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌwɜː(ɹ)k/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

underwork (third-person singular simple present underworks, present participle underworking, simple past and past participle underworked or (archaic) underwrought)

1. (transitive) To require too little work from; to work insufficiently.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To work or operate in secret or clandestinely.
   • 1605, Ben[jamin] Jonson, “The Argument”, in Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, →OCLC, , signature [A4], recto:

     [H]e raiſeth (in priuate) a nevv Inſtrument, one Sertorius Macro, and by him vndervvorketh, diſcouers the others Coũſells [i.e., counsels], his Means, his Ends, […]

3. (transitive, intransitive) To do less work than necessary (on).

   to underwork a painting

4. (intransitive) To do work for inadequate payment.
5. (transitive) To injure by working secretly; to destroy or overthrow by clandestine measure; to undermine.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     But thou from loving England art so far,
     That thou hast underwrought his lawful king.

6. (transitive) To do similar work for a lesser price than; to undercut.

   One mason may underwork another.

Noun

underwork (uncountable)

1. Subordinate work; petty business.

   the underwork of the nation

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “underwork”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• work under