job Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
    line; line of work; business; occupation.
    • he's not in my line of business
  2. noun a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee
    task; chore.
    • 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
    • the endless task of classifying the samples
    • the farmer's morning chores
  3. noun a workplace; as in the expression "on the job";
  4. noun an object worked on; a result produced by working
    • he held the job in his left hand and worked on it with his right
  5. noun the responsibility to do something
    • it is their job to print the truth
  6. noun the performance of a piece of work
    • she did an outstanding job as Ophelia
    • he gave it up as a bad job
  7. noun a damaging piece of work
    • dry rot did the job of destroying the barn
    • the barber did a real job on my hair
  8. noun a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved
    problem.
    • she and her husband are having problems
    • it is always a job to contact him
    • urban problems such as traffic congestion and smog
  9. noun a Jewish hero in the Old Testament who maintained his faith in God in spite of afflictions that tested him
  10. noun any long-suffering person who withstands affliction without despairing
  11. noun (computer science) a program application that may consist of several steps but is a single logical unit
  12. noun a book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply
    Book of Job.
  13. noun a crime (especially a robbery)
    caper.
    • the gang pulled off a bank job in St. Louis
  14. verb profit privately from public office and official business
  15. verb arranged for contracted work to be done by others
    farm out; subcontract.
  16. verb work occasionally
    • As a student I jobbed during the semester breaks
  17. verb invest at a risk
    speculate.
    • I bought this house not because I want to live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am speculating

WordNet

Job noun
Etymology
Prov. E. job, gob, n., a small piece of wood, v., to stab, strike; cf. E. gob, gobbet; perh. influenced by E. chop to cut off, to mince. See Gob.
Definitions
  1. A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
  2. A piece of chance or occasional work; any definite work undertaken in gross for a fixed price; as, he did the job for a thousand dollars.
  3. 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.
  4. Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately. Colloq.
  5. A situation or opportunity of work; as, he lost his job. Colloq. ✍ Job is used adjectively to signify doing jobs, used for jobs, or let on hire to do jobs; as, job printer; job master; job horse; job wagon, etc.
Job transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Jobbed ; present participle & verbal noun Jobbing
Definitions
  1. To strike or stab with a pointed instrument. L'Estrange.
  2. To thrust in, as a pointed instrument. Moxon.
  3. To do or cause to be done by separate portions or lots; to sublet (work); as, to job a contract.
  4. (Com.) To buy and sell, as a broker; to purchase of importers or manufacturers for the purpose of selling to retailers; as, to job goods.
  5. To hire or let by the job or for a period of service; as, to job a carriage. Thackeray.
Job intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To do chance work for hire; to work by the piece; to do petty work.
    Authors of all work, to job for the season. Moore.
  2. To seek private gain under pretense of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
    And judges job, and bishops bite the town. Pope.
  3. To carry on the business of a jobber in merchandise or stocks.
Job noun
Definitions
  1. The hero of the book of that name in the Old Testament; the typical patient man.

Webster 1913