Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

work|bench /wɜː ^r kbentʃ/ (workbenches ) N‑COUNT A workbench is a heavy wooden table on which people use tools such as a hammer and nails to make or repair things.

work|book /wɜː ^r kbʊk/ (workbooks ) N‑COUNT A workbook is a book to help you learn a particular subject which has questions in it with spaces for the answers.

work|day /wɜː ^r kde I / (workdays ) also work day

1 N‑COUNT [usu sing] A workday is the amount of time during a day which you spend doing your job. [mainly AM ] □  His workday starts at 3.30 a.m. and lasts 12 hours. in BRIT, usually use working day 2 N‑COUNT A workday is a day on which people go to work. □  What's he doing home on a workday?

wo rked u p ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If someone is worked up , they are angry or upset. □  Steve shouted at her. He was really worked up now.

work|er ◆◆◆ /wɜː ^r kə ^r / (workers )

1 N‑COUNT [usu n N ] A particular kind of worker does the kind of work mentioned. □  …office workers. □  The society was looking for a capable research worker.

2 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Workers are people who are employed in industry or business and who are not managers. □  Wages have been frozen and workers laid off.

3 N‑COUNT [usu adj N ] You can use worker to say how well or badly someone works. □  He is a hard worker and a skilled gardener.

4 → see also care worker , caseworker , dock worker , social worker , teleworker , youth worker SYNONYMS worker NOUN 2

employee:He is an employee of Fuji Bank.

hand:He now works as a farm hand.

labourer:Her husband had been a farm labourer.

workman:Millson saw the workman, Terry, descending the ladder.

work|fare /wɜː ^r kfeə ^r / N‑UNCOUNT Workfare is a government scheme in which unemployed people have to do community work or learn new skills in order to receive welfare benefits.

work|force /wɜː ^r kfɔː ^r s/ (workforces )

1 N‑COUNT [usu sing] The workforce is the total number of people in a country or region who are physically able to do a job and are available for work. □  …a country where half the workforce is unemployed.

2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] The workforce is the total number of people who are employed by a particular company. □  …an employer of a very large workforce.

work|horse /wɜː ^r khɔː ^r s/ (workhorses )

1 N‑COUNT A workhorse is a horse which is used to do a job, for example to pull a plough.

2 N‑COUNT If you describe a person or a machine as a workhorse , you mean that they can be relied upon to do a large amount of work, especially work that is dull or routine. □ [+ of ] …the Wellington bomber, the great workhorse of the war. □  She was never late, a real workhorse, who never complained.

work|house /wɜː ^r khaʊs/ (workhouses ) N‑COUNT In Britain, in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, a workhouse was a place where very poor people could live and do unpleasant jobs in return for food. People use the workhouse to refer to these places in general. □  …a struggling Shropshire family which lived in fear of the workhouse.

work|ing ◆◆◆ /wɜː ^r k I ŋ/ (workings )

1 ADJ [ADJ n] Working people have jobs which they are paid to do. □  Like working women anywhere, Asian women are buying convenience foods.

2 ADJ [ADJ n] Working people are ordinary people who do not have professional or very highly paid jobs. □  The needs and opinions of ordinary working people were ignored.