# job

Pronunciation: say "JOB" US /dʒɑb/, UK /dʒɒb/

## Noun

1. A paid economic role; the regular work a person does in exchange for money.
   - Simple: Regular work that a person does to earn money.
   - _He took a job as an electrician after finishing his training._
   - _Thousands of jobs were lost when the factory closed._
2. A particular task or piece of work that needs doing.
   - Simple: A piece of work that needs to be done.
   - _Painting the fence turned out to be a harder job than expected._
   - _She split the chores into smaller jobs for each child._
3. The task a person has the responsibility of carrying out, or the function something is there to perform.
   - Simple: What a person has to do or should do, or what a thing is made to do.
   - _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._
4. A robbery or heist, especially one carried out by a planned operation. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A criminal robbery or planned theft.
   - _The crew spent months planning the jewelry-store job._
   - _He bragged about a string of jobs he had pulled across the state._
5. An instance of plastic surgery, especially one performed on a specific body part.
   - Simple: A medical operation to change the look of part of the body.
   - _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._
6. A task or set of tasks that a computer system schedules and runs as a single unit, often in the background without user interaction.
   - Simple: A piece of work that a computer carries out as one unit, often waiting its turn in a line.
   - _The operator submitted the batch job to run overnight on the mainframe._
   - _Several jobs were queued for processing on the server._
7. A thing or whatsit, referred to vaguely when its name cannot be recalled. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A thing whose name you cannot remember at the moment.
   - _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._
8. A sex act, especially one performed on another person by hand or mouth. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A sexual act, especially one performed on another person.
   - _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._
11. A difficult task or a real struggle, as when someone manages to do something only with trouble. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: Something that is hard to do and takes a lot of effort.
   - _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._
12. An event or state of affairs seen as fortunate or unfortunate for those affected, as in a good job or a bad job. *(UK)*
   - Simple: An event or situation that affects you, whether good or bad.
   - _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._
14. Police work as a career, the work of policing itself, or a member of the police. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: The police, police work, or a single police officer.
   - _After fifteen years in the job, she transferred to the detective unit._
   - _Everyone in the job knew the reputation of that station._
15. A public transaction carried out for private profit; official business handled to enrich those in charge rather than to serve the public.
   - Simple: A deal made by an official to get money for themselves instead of serving the public.
18. A vulgar term for the penis. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude term for the male sex organ.

## Verb

9. To subcontract a project or delivery by dividing it into small portions spread across several contractors.
   - Simple: To split a project into small parts and hire different workers to do each part.
   - _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._
10. To take on casual or occasional paid work, doing odd jobs as they come.
   - Simple: To do small bits of work for pay, one task at a time.
   - _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._
13. In professional wrestling, to lose a match as planned in advance, usually so that the opponent looks stronger. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In wrestling, to lose a match on purpose, as planned, so the other wrestler looks strong.
   - _Established stars sometimes job to younger talent to build the next generation._
   - _He jobbed cleanly in the title match, putting over the champion._
16. To pursue private gain while pretending to serve the public; to turn public office to personal advantage.
   - Simple: To use a public position to make money for yourself while pretending to serve the public.
17. To buy and sell goods or securities for profit, as a middleman or speculator.
   - Simple: To buy things and sell them again to make money, as a dealer or trader.
19. To hire or let out something for fixed periods of service.
   - Simple: To rent something out, or hire it, for set periods of time.
20. To poke, jab or stab at someone or something, as with a pointed object or a bird's beak.
   - Simple: To push something sharp into something, or to poke or hit someone quickly.
21. To jab someone, landing a short, quick blow with the fist. *(Australia)*
   - Simple: To give someone a short, fast punch.
   - _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._

## Noun

22. A quick, sharp stab or poke, or a short blow with the fist. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A sudden hard poke, stab, or punch.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–19** — 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.
**Meanings 20–22** — 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/job (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).