job
Pluraljobs
Often confused with work
Pluraljobs
- 1A paid economic role; the regular work a person does in exchange for money.
He took a job as an electrician after finishing his training.
Thousands of jobs were lost when the factory closed.
UsageTakes a, unlike work: find a job or find work (not
incorrect: find a work). Without one, you are out of a job.Similarposition, post, occupation, role
Note
Unlike the "task" meaning, this is something a person holds over time. Morrissey's line "I was looking for a job and then I found a job / And heaven knows I'm miserable now" turns on that very gap between having a job and being content with it.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Morrissey wrote the quoted lyric, from the Smiths' song "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now". en.wikiquote.org
- The quotation reproduces the song's wording accurately. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A particular task or piece of work that needs doing.
Painting the fence turned out to be a harder job than expected.
She split the chores into smaller jobs for each child.
UsageYou do a good job or a poor one; Good job! is everyday praise.
Similartask, chore, assignment
- 3The task a person has the responsibility of carrying out, or the function something is there to perform.
It isn't your job to clean up after your brother, so stop doing it.
A fuse has one job: to break the circuit before the wires overheat.
UsageWith a possessive: it's not your job to clean up. You had one job mocks failure at something simple.
Similarresponsibility, duty, task, role, function
Note
Because a paid position is also a job, it's my job can mean either what someone owes or what they are hired to do.
Less common meanings
- 4A robbery or heist, especially one carried out by a planned operation.
The crew spent months planning the jewelry-store job.
He bragged about a string of jobs he had pulled across the state.
UsageOften named by its target: a bank job.
Note
Part of the appeal is the word's blandness, since it makes a robbery sound like planned work. J. Lamar's Honor, Deception and Justice (2010) uses safe job and heist side by side for the same crime.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- J. Lamar wrote Honor, Deception and Justice. en.wiktionary.org
- The book uses safe job and heist for the same crime. en.wiktionary.org
- 5An instance of plastic surgery, especially one performed on a specific body part.
After her nose job, she finally felt confident having her photo taken.
The actress flatly denied rumors that she'd had a nose job before the premiere.
UsageWith the body part first: a nose job. The bare word rarely carries this meaning.
- 6A task or set of tasks that a computer system schedules and runs as a single unit, often in the background without user interaction.
Like leaving a full load of laundry to wash itself through while you step out: the system works through the whole batch unattended.
The operator submitted the batch job to run overnight on the mainframe.
Several jobs were queued for processing on the server.
UsageOften a batch job, a print job, the job queue.
Note
Computing took the old idea of a bounded piece of work and made it a unit a system schedules. A typical batch job is submitted, waits in a queue, runs without anyone at the keyboard, and finishes with its output collected. An interactive session, where a user responds as the program runs, can also be scheduled as a job.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The older meaning of job was a piece of work. en.wiktionary.org
- A computer system can schedule a job. docs.hpc.qmul.ac.uk
- 7A thing or whatsit, referred to vaguely when its name cannot be recalled.
I need one of those plastic jobs for holding cables together, whatever they're called.
Can you pass me that job for opening paint cans? I forget what it's called.
UsageWith an adjective: one of those plastic jobs, that little job. Safest kept for objects.
Similarthingy, gizmo, widget, gadget, doohickey
Note
At a 1936 meeting of the American Warehousemen's Association, a speaker recalled standing in white tie and tails beside "a little blonde job" and got a laugh. That shows the same vague word aimed at a person.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The quotation is recorded in the proceedings of the American Warehousemen's Association's 1936 annual meeting. en.wiktionary.org
- A speaker recalled standing in white tie and tails beside someone described as 'a little blonde job'; the proceedings record laughter and applause. en.wiktionary.org
- 8A sex act, especially one performed on another person by hand or mouth.
He bragged to his friends about the hand job he had gotten at the party.
The brochure listed prices for everything from a hand job to a full session.
UsageWorks inside compounds that name the means (hand job); the bare word rarely has this meaning.
Note
Sex and the City plays on this when Samantha says "they don't call it a job for nothing", letting the work sense and the sexual one meet.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Samantha says 'they don't call it a job for nothing' in Sex and the City, in a speech describing the effort involved in oral sex. en.wiktionary.org
- The quoted words are accurate. en.wikiquote.org
- 9To subcontract a project or delivery by dividing it into small portions spread across several contractors.
Like a head chef handing each course to a different kitchen station instead of cooking the whole meal alone.
Rather than hire more staff, the contractor jobbed out the renovation piece by piece, giving the tiling, cabinets, and lighting to three specialists.
To meet the deadline, the agency will job out the manual in small sections to a dozen freelance translators.
UsageMostly job out a project to other firms.
Similarsubcontract, outsource
Note
The particle carries the sense of work being sent outward in pieces, and it often signals a contrast with keeping a project whole, as with a turnkey plant sold complete.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A turnkey plant is sold as a completed project. en.wikipedia.org
- 10To take on casual or occasional paid work, doing odd jobs as they come.
For most of his twenties he was a jobbing actor, picking up a week of theater here and a TV commercial there.
Day workers job wherever a crew is short for an afternoon.
UsageOften as jobbing before a noun: a jobbing actor, a jobbing gardener.
Note
The verb of work taken by the stint, with no steady post behind it. Thomas Moore's Literary Advertisement mocks hack writers as "authors of all work, to job for the season", meaning hired for a spell and then let go.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Thomas Moore wrote Literary Advertisement. gutenberg.org
- The poem mocks hack writers and contains the quoted words, with capitalization and hyphenation normalized in the item. gutenberg.org
- The quotation describes hiring for a limited period. gutenberg.org
- 11A difficult task or a real struggle, as when someone manages to do something only with trouble.
My gran's hearing is so bad that we had a job making her understand the plan.
With all the roadworks, it was a job to get to the station before the last train.
UsageIn set frames: have a job doing something, it was a job to do it, often a real job.
Note
What it measures is effort, not employment: we had a job finding the house means the finding was hard.
- 12An event or state of affairs seen as fortunate or unfortunate for those affected, as in a good job or a bad job.
It was a good job that the doctor caught the illness early.
When rain ruined the beach trip, the kids made the best of a bad job and played cards in the back of the car.
UsageMostly it's a good job (that) + clause, or make the best of a bad job.
Similarthing
- 13In professional wrestling, to lose a match as planned in advance, usually so that the opponent looks stronger.
Established stars sometimes job to younger talent to build the next generation.
He jobbed cleanly in the title match, putting over the champion.
UsageTakes no object: you job to someone.
Similarlose
Oppositewin
Note
Professional wrestling slang, seen from the script's side. Results are decided in advance, and the wrestler who jobs loses on purpose, often one-sidedly, so the opponent looks strong. A performer cast in that role is a jobber, a word that also names a middleman in the trading sense.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Professional wrestling match results are decided in advance. en.wikipedia.org
- Planned wrestling losses are often presented one-sidedly to make established opponents look stronger. en.wikipedia.org
- 14Police work as a career, the work of policing itself, or a member of the police.
After fifteen years in the job, she transferred to the detective unit.
Everyone in the job knew the reputation of that station.
UsageWith the for the career (fifteen years in the job); with no article for a person: she's job, ex-job.
Similarforce
- 15
- 16To pursue private gain while pretending to serve the public; to turn public office to personal advantage.
And judges job, and bishops bite the town.
1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to BathurstSimilarprofiteer
Note
Corruption put into a verb: Alexander Pope's Epistle to Bathurst (1733) has "And judges job, and bishops bite the town." It names the action behind the corrupt-deal noun, and it takes no object. Officials simply job. That sets it apart from the trading verb, where one jobs securities. Here the profit is drawn from public office rather than from a market.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Alexander Pope wrote the poem known as Epistle to Bathurst. writersinspire.org
- The poem was first published in 1733, although its first-edition title page is dated 1732. en.wikipedia.org
- The poem contains the quoted words. gutenberg.org
- 17To buy and sell goods or securities for profit, as a middleman or speculator.
Note
Trading on one's own account: buying and selling stock or goods to profit from short-term price movements rather than to hold them. Historically it is the trade of the stockjobbers of the London Exchange. It takes a direct object, so one jobs shares or currencies.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Stockjobbing was historically practised by stockjobbers on the London Stock Exchange. en.wikipedia.org
- 18A vulgar term for the penis.
- 19To hire or let out something for fixed periods of service.
Note
Hiring by the stint, mostly at home in the world of carriages and horses: to job a carriage. In Thackeray's Vanity Fair, "a pair of handsome horses were jobbed" for Jos to drive about in state in the park. The horses are hired rather than owned, which is a detail of his show.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- William Makepeace Thackeray wrote Vanity Fair. en.wikisource.org
- The narrator says that a pair of handsome horses were jobbed for Jos to drive about in state in the park. en.wikisource.org
- The horses are hired rather than owned. en.wiktionary.org
- 20To poke, jab or stab at someone or something, as with a pointed object or a bird's beak.
He had ‘jobbed out’ the eye of one gentleman.
1844, Charles Dickens, Martin ChuzzlewitNote
It takes a target and usually a pointed object, whether a fork, a spike or a bird's beak. Adding out turns a stab into destruction. In Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (1844), someone "had 'jobbed out' the eye of one gentleman". Jab is the everyday equivalent, and run through is the stronger one, for a wound that goes clean through.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Charles Dickens wrote Martin Chuzzlewit, whose first book edition is dated 1844. en.wikisource.org
- The quoted wording occurs in the novel's narration and describes Mr Chollop's assault. gutenberg.org
- 21To jab someone, landing a short, quick blow with the fist.
When the drunk kept shoving his mate, Darren lost patience and jobbed him right on the jaw.
Keep your guard up and job him whenever he steps in.
UsageNames the person, then the spot: jobbed him on the jaw. Elsewhere, jab or punch is expected.
Similarjab, punch, hit, strike
Note
The usual pattern names the person and then the spot: Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish (2001) has "A stranger jobbed me in the mug".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Richard Flanagan wrote Gould's Book of Fish. groveatlantic.com
- Gould's Book of Fish was first published in 2001. penguin.com.au
- The novel contains the quoted words. groveatlantic.com
- 22A quick, sharp stab or poke, or a short blow with the fist.
Fair dinkum, a man ought to give you a job in the b— face.
1937, The Western Mail, PerthNote
The noun matching the Australian punching verb, and it keeps the same pattern of giving someone a job in a named spot. The Western Mail of Perth in 1937 prints "a man ought to give you a job in the b— face." Treat it as obsolete and use jab or punch today.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The Western Mail of Perth printed the quoted words in 1937. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Behind it is the phrase jobbe of work, meaning "piece of work," whose own source is uncertain. Middle English gobbe, meaning "mass, lump," may have supplied it in a variant form. Middle English jobben, "to jab, thrust, peck," and choppe ("piece, bargain") are other possible links.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Job derives from the phrase jobbe of work, meaning “piece of work,” whose origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- A variant of Middle English gobbe, meaning “mass, lump,” is a proposed source. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English jobben meant “to jab, thrust, peck” and is a proposed connection. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English choppe meant “piece, bargain” and is another proposed connection. en.wiktionary.org
The poking, jabbing and punching senses belong to a separate word, probably imitative in origin, from Middle English jobben; jab began as a Scottish form of it.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The poking, jabbing and punching senses are treated as a separate word. en.wiktionary.org
- This word is probably imitative in origin. en.wiktionary.org
- This word comes from Middle English jobben. en.wiktionary.org
- Jab originated as a Scottish form of job. en.wikipedia.org