different between work vs line

English

Alternative forms

• werk, werke, worke (obsolete)
• wuk (nonstandard, AAVE)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??k/
• (Broad Geordie) IPA^(key): [w??k]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /w?k/, [w?k]
• (NYC) IPA^(key): /w??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English work, werk, from Old English worc, weorc, ?eweorc, from Proto-Germanic *werk? (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wér?om; akin to Scots wark, Saterland Frisian Wierk, West Frisian wurk, Dutch werk, German Werk, German Low German Wark, Danish værk, Norwegian Bokmål verk, Norwegian Nynorsk verk, Swedish verk and yrke, Icelandic verk, Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gawaurki), Ancient Greek ????? (érgon, “work”) (from ?????? (wérgon)), Avestan ????????????????????? (v?r^?z, “to work, to perform”), Armenian ???? (gorc, “work”), Albanian argëtoj (“entertain, reward, please”). English cognates include bulwark, boulevard, energy, erg, georgic, liturgy, metallurgy, organ, surgeon, wright. Doublet of ergon.

Noun

work (countable and uncountable, plural works)

1. (heading, uncountable) Employment.
   1. Labour, occupation, job.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:occupation
   2. The place where one is employed.

   3. (by extension) One's employer.

   4. (dated) A factory; a works.
      • 1917, Platers' Guide (page 246)

        In trials of a Martin furnace in a steel work at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after […]

2. (heading, uncountable) Effort.
   1. Effort expended on a particular task.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:work

   2. Sustained human effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.

      • The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

   3. Something on which effort is expended.

   4. (physics) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.

   5. (physics, more generally) A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process.
3. (heading) Product; the result of effort.
   1. (uncountable, often in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.

   2. (uncountable, often in combination) Something produced using the specified material or tool.

   3. (countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production.
      • “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […] ”

   4. (countable) A fortification.

4. (uncountable, slang, professional wrestling) The staging of events to appear as real.
5. (mining) Ore before it is dressed.
6. (slang, plural only) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Pijin: waka

Translations

See also

• (product (combining form)): -ing

Etymology 2

From Middle English werken and worchen, from Old English wyr?an and wircan (Mercian), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijan? (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer?- (“to work”). Cognate with Old Frisian werka, wirka, Old Saxon wirkian, Low German warken, Dutch werken, Old High German wurken (German wirken, werken and werkeln), Old Norse yrkja and orka, (Swedish yrka and orka), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (waurkjan).

Verb

work (third-person singular simple present works, present participle working, simple past and past participle worked or (rare/archaic) wrought)

1. (intransitive) To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
   1. Followed by in (or at, etc.) Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business).

   2. Followed by as. Said of one's job title

   3. Followed by for. Said of a company or individual who employs.

   4. Followed by with. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients.

2. (transitive) To effect by gradual degrees.
   • 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy

     So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains / Of rushing torrents and descending rains, / Works itself clear, and as it runs, refines, / Till by degrees the floating mirror shines.

3. (transitive) To embroider with thread.
4. (transitive) To set into action.

5. (transitive) To cause to ferment.
6. (intransitive) To ferment.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Essay on Natural History

     the working of beer when the barm is put in

7. (transitive) To exhaust, by working.
   • 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, chapter 11, 240:

     They were told of a ?ilver mine, that had been worked by the Spaniards, ?omewhere in the Health?hire Hills, in St. Catharine; but they were not able to di?cover it.

8. (transitive) To shape, form, or improve a material.

9. (transitive) To operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.

10. (transitive) To operate in or through; as, to work the phones.
11. (transitive) To provoke or excite; to influence.

12. (transitive) To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.

13. (transitive) To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.

14. (transitive) To cause to work.

15. (intransitive) To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.

16. (intransitive, figuratively) To influence.

17. (intransitive) To effect by gradual degrees; as, to work into the earth.
18. (intransitive) To move in an agitated manner.

    A ship works in a heavy sea.

    • 1705, Joseph Addison, Remarks on several parts of Italy, &c., in the years 1701, 1702, 1703

      confused with working sands and rolling waves

19. (intransitive) To behave in a certain way when handled

20. (ditransitive, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
    • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

      And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, "I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!"
21. (obsolete, intransitive) To hurt; to ache.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI:

      ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• "work" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 334.

References

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?n, IPA^(key): /la?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English l?ne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *l?n?, from Proto-Germanic *l?n? (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *l?n? (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?no- (“flax”).

Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen.

The oldest sense of the word is "rope, cord, thread"; from this the senses "path", "continuous mark" were derived.

Noun

line (plural lines)

1. A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
   • So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
   1. (geometry) An infinitely extending one-dimensional figure that has no curvature; one that has length but not breadth or thickness.

      Synonym: straight line

   2. (geometry, informal) A line segment; a continuous finite segment of such a figure.

      Synonym: line segment

   3. (graph theory) An edge of a graph.
   4. (geography) A circle of latitude or of longitude, as represented on a map.
   5. (geography, ‘the line’ or ‘equinoctial line’) The equator.
      • 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, vol. I, ch. 1:

        Benin […] is situated nearly under the line, and extends along the coast about 170 miles […] .
   6. (music) One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.
   7. (cricket) The horizontal path of a ball towards the batsman (see also length).
   8. (soccer) The goal line.
   9. (motoring) A particular path taken by a vehicle when driving a bend or corner in the road.
2. A rope, cord, string, or thread, of any thickness.
3. A hose or pipe, of any size.
   • 1973, Final Environmental Statement for the Geothermal Leasing Program (US department of the interior):

     There is the possible hazard of an oil spill in case the line breaks but normal pipeline maintenance and safety measures, etc., are designed to prevent large or long continued spillage.

   • 1981 October, Popular Science, volume 219, number 4, page 113:

     To the end of the metal fuel line (where it fits into the carb) you attach a four-foot length of flexible fuel line.

4. Direction, path.

5. The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another, a telephone or internet cable between two points: a telephone or network connection.

6. A clothesline.
7. A letter, a written form of communication.

   Synonyms: epistle, letter, note

8. A connected series of public conveyances, as a roadbed or railway track; and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.

9. (military) A trench or rampart, or the non-physical demarcation of the extent of the territory occupied by specified forces.
10. The exterior limit of a figure or territory: a boundary, contour, or outline; a demarcation.
11. A long tape or ribbon marked with units for measuring; a tape measure.
12. (obsolete) A measuring line or cord.

    • The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

13. That which was measured by a line, such as a field or any piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of abode.

    • The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

14. A threadlike crease or wrinkle marking the face, hand, or body; hence, a characteristic mark.
15. Lineament; feature; figure (of one's body).
16. A more-or-less straight sequence of people, objects, etc., either arranged as a queue or column and often waiting to be processed or dealt with, or arranged abreast of one another in a row (and contrasted with a column), as in a military formation. [from mid-16^thc.]

    Synonyms: (Canada) lineup, (UK, Ireland) queue
17. (military) The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.
19. A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a given person; a family or race; compare lineage.
    • Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
20. A small amount of text. Specifically:
    1. A written or printed row of letters, words, numbers, or other text, especially a row of words extending across a page or column, or a blank in place of such text.

       Synonym: row

    2. A verse (in poetry).
    3. A sentence of dialogue, especially [from the later 19^thc.] in a play, movie, or the like.
    4. A lie or exaggeration, especially one told to gain another's approval or prevent losing it.

21. Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method of argument; department of industry, trade, or intellectual activity. [from earlier 17^thc.]
22. The official, stated position (or set of positions) of an individual or group, particularly a political or religious faction. [from later 19^thc.]

23. (slang) Information about or understanding of something. (Mostly restricted to the expressions get a line on, have a line on, and give a line on.)
24. A set of products or services sold by a business, or by extension, the business itself. [from earlier 19^thc.]

25. (stock exchange) A number of shares taken by a jobber.
26. A measure of length:
    1. (historical) A tsarist-era Russian unit of measure, approximately equal to one tenth of an English inch, used especially when measuring the calibre of firearms.
    2. One twelfth of an inch.
    3. One fortieth of an inch.
27. (historical) A maxwell, a unit of magnetic flux.
28. (baseball, slang, 1800s, with "the") The batter’s box.
29. (fencing) The position in which the fencers hold their swords.

    Synonym: line of engagement
30. (engineering) Proper relative position or adjustment (of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working).

31. A small path-shaped portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug, especially cocaine.
32. (obsolete) Instruction; doctrine.

    • Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.

33. (genetics) Population of cells derived from a single cell and containing the same genetic makeup.
34. (perfusion line) a set composed of a spike, a drip chamber, a clamp, a Y-injection site, a three-way stopcock and a catheter.
35. (ice hockey) A group of forwards that play together.
36. (Australian rules football) A set of positions in a team which play in a similar position on the field; in a traditional team, consisting of three players and acting as one of six such sets in the team.
37. (medicine, colloquial) A vascular catheter.

Derived terms

Related terms

• (geometry) curve, point, segment
• lineage
• lineal
• linear

Translations

Verb

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

1. (transitive) To place (objects) into a line (usually used with "up"); to form into a line; to align.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

2. (transitive) To place persons or things along the side of for security or defense; to strengthen by adding; to fortify.
3. (transitive) To form a line along.
4. (transitive) To mark with a line or lines, to cover with lines.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To represent by lines; to delineate; to portray.
6. (transitive) To read or repeat line by line.
   • 1897, Daniel Webster Davis, “De Linin’ ub de Hymns”, quoted in Jerma A. Jackson, “Exuberance or Restraint: Music and Religion after Reconstruction”, in Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8078-2860-1, page 15:

     De young folks say ’tain’t stylish to lin’ ’um no mo’; / Dat deys got edikashun, an’ dey wants us all to know / Dey like to hab dar singin’-books a-holin’ fore dar eyes, / An’ sing de hymns right straight along “to manshuns in de skies”.
7. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a line drive; to hit a line drive which is caught for an out. Compare fly and ground.

8. (transitive) To track (wild bees) to their nest by following their line of flight.
9. (transitive) To measure.

Derived terms

• line up
• underline

Translations

Etymology 2

Old English l?n (“flax, linen, cloth”). For more information, see the entry linen.

Alternative forms

• lin

Noun

line (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Flax; linen, particularly the longer fiber of flax.
   • a. 1818, J. C. Atkinson (ed.), North Riding Record Society (publisher), Quarter sessions records VIII p. 52 (compilation of historical records published in 1890, as quoted in the English Dialect Dictionary in 1902):

     To spin 2 lb. of line.

   • 1837, Everett, S. Hick 195:

     Which proved fatal to the line or flax crops.

   • 1858, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, page 409:

     1641.—14 yards of femble cloth, 12s. ; 8 yards of linen, 6s. 8d. ; 20 yards of harden, 10s. ; 5 linen sheets, 1l. ; 7 linen pillow bears, 8s. ; 2 femble sheets and a line hard sheet, 10s. ; 3 linen towels, 4s. ; 6 lin curtains and a vallance, 12s. ; […]

   • 1869, Dixon, Borrowdale, 2:

     T'burring o' t'woo' an' line wheels,

Translations

Verb

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

1. (transitive) To cover the inner surface of (something), originally especially with linen.

2. To reinforce (the back of a book) with glue and glued scrap material such as fabric or paper.
3. (transitive) To fill or supply (something), as a purse with money.

Derived terms

(terms derived from the verb "line"):

• line one's pockets

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Middle French ligner.

Verb

line (third-person singular simple present lines, present participle lining, simple past and past participle lined)

1. (transitive, now rare, of a dog) To copulate with, to impregnate.
   • 1868 September, The Country Gentleman's Magazine, page 292:

     Bedlamite was a black dog, and although it may be safely asserted that he lined upwards of 100 bitches of all colours, red, white, and blue, all his produce were black.

Translations

Gallery

References

line in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• LEIN, Neil, Niel, Nile, lien

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English line.

Noun

line f (invariable)

1. line management
2. editing (of a TV programme)

Related terms

• off-line
• on-line

Anagrams

• lenì

Latin

Verb

line

1. second-person singular present active imperative of lin?

References

• line in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lyne, lin, lyene
• ligne (influenced by Old French ligne)

Etymology 1

From Old English l?ne, from Proto-Germanic *l?n?. Some forms and meanings are from Old French ligne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li?n(?)/

Noun

line (plural lines)

1. rope, cord
2. line, rule, ruler, measure
3. (figuratively) rule, direction, command, edict
4. line, straight mark; also a fictitious line
5. (written) line, verse

Descendants

• English: line

References

• “l?ne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-23.

Etymology 2

From Old English l?n.

Noun

line (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of lyne

References

• “lin,, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 April 2018.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²li?n?/

Etymology 1

From Latin linea

Alternative forms

• linje

Noun

line f (definite singular lina, indefinite plural liner, definite plural linene)

1. a line (a continuous mark through two or more points; a succession of ancestors or descendants; the stated position of an individual or group)

Derived terms

• kystline
• skiljeline

Etymology 2

From Old Norse lína

Noun

line f (definite singular lina, indefinite plural liner, definite plural linene)

1. a line (a strong rope, cord, string, wire)

References

• “line” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *l?n? (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *l?n? (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?no- (“flax”). Akin to Old High German l?na (“line”) (German Leine (“rope”)), Middle Dutch l?ne (“rope, cord”) (Dutch lijn (“rope”)), Old Norse l?na (“cord, rope”) (Danish line (“rope, cord”)), Old English l?n (“flax, linen, cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?li?.ne/

Noun

l?ne f

1. line, rope, cable
2. row, series
3. direction, rule

Declension

Related terms

• l?n
• l?nen, linnen

Descendants

• Middle English: line, lyne
  • English: line

Phuthi

Etymology

From Proto-Nguni *niná.

Pronoun

liné

1. you, you all; second-person plural absolute pronoun.

Spanish

Noun

line m (plural lines)

1. (rugby) lineout