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job1

Pronunciation: /dʒɒb/
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Definition of job

noun

  • 1a paid position of regular employment:the scheme could create 200 jobs a part-time job
  • 2a task or piece of work, especially one that is paid:she wants to be left alone to get on with the job
  • a responsibility or duty:it’s our job to find things out
  • [in singular] informal a difficult task:we thought you’d have a job getting there
  • [with modifier] informal a procedure to improve the appearance of something:someone had done a skilful paint job
  • informal a crime, especially a robbery:a series of daring bank jobs
  • Computing an operation or group of operations treated as a single and distinct unit: this feature allows your computer to queue print jobs
  • 3 [with modifier] informal a thing of a specified nature:the car was a blue malevolent-looking job

verb (jobs, jobbing, jobbed)

  • 1 [no object] (usually as adjective jobbing) do casual or occasional work:a jobbing builder
  • 2 [with object] buy and sell (stocks) as a broker-dealer, especially on a small scale: his game plan is to buy in then job the shares on at a profit
  • 3 [with object] North American informal cheat; betray: he was jobbed by the Justice Department
  • 4 [no object] archaic turn a public office or a position of trust to private advantage: if left unfettered he would job

Phrases

between jobs

a euphemistic way of referring to a person being temporarily unemployed:public money should be used to lend a hand to people who find themselves between jobs

big jobs

British informal a euphemistic way of referring to faeces or defecation.

do the job

informal achieve the required result:a piece of board will do the job

give something up as a bad job

informal decide that it is futile to devote further time or energy to something: he gave the whole thing up as a bad job

a good job

informal, chiefly British a fortunate fact or circumstance:it was a good job she hadn’t brought the car

jobs for the boys

British derogatory used in reference to the practice of giving paid employment to one’s friends, supporters, or relations: it smacks of jobs for the boys

just the job

British informal exactly what is needed: companionship from fellow walkers was just the job it is just the job for getting rid of stains

make the best of a bad job

see best.

on the job

while working; at work: learning on the job should be part of studying my first day on the job
British informal engaged in sexual intercourse.

out of a job

unemployed; redundant: he has been out of a job for some time she could find herself out of a job

Phrasal Verbs

job something out

North American assign separate elements of a piece of work to different companies or workers:all the work done by the middleman can be jobbed out at a much lower cost

Origin:

mid 16th century (in job1 (sense 2 of the noun)): of unknown origin

job in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of job in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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