job

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See also: Job, jòb, and Jòb

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From the phrase jobbe of work (“piece of work”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”); or perhaps related to Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), or Middle English choppe (“piece, bargain”). More at gob, jab, chop.

Noun

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job (plural jobs)

  1. A task.
    I've got a job for you - could you wash the dishes?
  2. An economic role for which a person is paid.
    That surgeon has a great job.
    He's been out of a job since being made redundant in January.
    • 1984, Johnny Marr & Morrissey (lyrics and music), “Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now”, in Hatful of Hollow, performed by The Smiths:
      I was looking for a job and then I found a job / And heaven knows I'm miserable now
    • 2013 August 10, Schumpeter, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      Here I am at my new job!
      Audio (US):(file)
  3. (in noun compounds) Plastic surgery.
    He had a nose job.
  4. (in noun compounds) A sex act.
    hand job
    • 2000 August 6, “Easy Come, Easy Go”, in Sex and the City, season 3, episode 9, spoken by Samantha:
      You men have no idea what we're dealing with down there. Teeth placement, and jaw stress, and suction, and gag reflex, and all the while bobbing up and down, moaning and trying to breathe through our noses. Easy? Honey, they don't call it a job for nothing.
  5. (computing) A task, or series of tasks, carried out in batch mode (especially on a mainframe computer).
  6. A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
  7. (informal) A robbery or heist.
    a bank job
    • 2010, J. Lamar, Honor, Deception and Justice, page 53:
      This freak Vernon got the intelligence on the safe job and passed it on to some other freak, a guy that hears voices in his head and talks back to them. […] We don't think [Vernon's squeeze] is in on the heist, but she apparently is in love with this creep who is laying the pipe in her trough!
  8. Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
  9. (colloquial) A thing or whatsit (often used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thingy
    Pass me that little job with the screw thread on it.
    • 1936, Proceedings of the annual meeting of the American Warehousemen's Association, volume 45, page 376:
      One of them was about nine years ago when I stood in white tie and tails beside a little blonde job (laughter and applause) down in front of the First Methodist Church of Birmingham, […]
  10. (UK, slang, law enforcement) The police as a profession, act of policing, or an individual police officer.[1]
    • 2018 February 11, Colin Dexter, Russell Lewis, 14:17 from the start, in Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by DS Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans):
      “He was ex-job, Beavis. Detective sergeant out of County, Banbury, retired in ‘59.”
    • 2018 July 24, Chris Merritt, Last Witness:A Gripping Crime Thriller You Won’t Be Able To Put Down:
      But there it was on the screen: The personal details of his old colleague from Kennington station in the late nineties. […] She’s job. We used to work together.
    • 2022 February 9, Daragh Carville, Richard Clark, Furquan Akhtar, 01:33 from the start, in The Bay, season 3, episode 5, spoken by D.S Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason):
      “I’m job, D.S Townsend. I have to report a missing person.”
Usage notes
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Collocations
  • Adjectives often applied to "job": easy, hard, poor, good, great, excellent, decent, low-paying, steady, stable, secure, challenging, demanding, rewarding, boring, thankless, stressful, horrible, lousy, satisfying, industrial, educational, academic.
Descendants
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  • → Antillean Creole: djòb
  • → French: job
  • → Louisiana Creole: djòb
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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job (third-person singular simple present jobs, present participle jobbing, simple past and past participle jobbed)

  1. (intransitive) To do odd jobs or occasional work for hire.
    • a. 1852, Thomas Moore, Literary Advertisement:
      Authors of all work, to job for the season.
  2. (intransitive) To work as a jobber.
  3. (intransitive, professional wrestling slang) To take the loss, usually in a demeaning or submissive manner.
  4. (transitive, trading) To buy and sell for profit, as securities; to speculate in.
  5. (transitive, often with out) To subcontract a project or delivery in small portions to a number of contractors.
    We wanted to sell a turnkey plant, but they jobbed out the contract to small firms.
  6. (intransitive) To seek private gain under pretence of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
    • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst:
      And judges job, and bishops bite the town.
  7. To hire or let in periods of service.
    to job a carriage
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Derived terms

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Terms derived from the noun or verb job

See also

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Etymology 2

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Imitative.

Verb

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job (third-person singular simple present jobs, present participle jobbing, simple past and past participle jobbed)

  1. (intransitive, now rare, regional) To peck (of a bird); (more generally) to poke or prod (at, into). [from 15th c.]
  2. (transitive) To pierce or poke (someone or something), typically with a sharp or pointed object; to stab. [from 16th c.]
    • 1844, Charles Dickens, chapter 33, in Martin Chuzzlewit:
      He had ‘jobbed out’ the eye of one gentleman.
  3. (transitive, now Australia) To hit (someone) with a quick, sharp punch; to jab. [from 19th c.]
    • 2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 40:
      A stranger jobbed me in the mug so hard that I fell off my chair.

Noun

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job (plural jobs)

  1. (obsolete) A sudden thrust or stab; a jab or punch. [16th–20th c.]
    • 1937 October 14, The Western Mail, Perth:
      Fair dinkum, a man ought to give you a job in the b— face.

References

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  1. ^ Eric Partridge (2013) “job”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd edition, volumes I–II, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1274: “the job¶ the police (as a profession) UK”

Anagrams

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English job.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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job

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) job (a non-permanent job, from which one is paid); tasks in one's work (Classifier: 單／单 c; 個／个 c)
    接job [Cantonese]  ―  zip3 zop1 [Jyutping]  ―  to take a job

References

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Danish

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Etymology

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From English job.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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job n

  1. job

Declension

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Declension of job
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative job jobbet job jobbene
genitive jobs jobbets jobs jobbenes

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English job.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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job f (plural jobs)

  1. (chiefly Belgium) job
    Synonym: baan

Usage notes

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Job is the default word for a job in Belgium. In the Netherlands baan is the default; however, job is sometimes used informally or in certain sectors (e.g. marketing), but it may also be considered pretentious due to an association with yuppies.

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English job.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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job m or f (plural jobs)

  1. (informal) job (employment role)
  2. (North America, informal) work

Usage notes

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  • This term is feminine in Quebec and some parts of Louisiana, and masculine elsewhere.

Synonyms

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Further reading

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Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English job.

Noun

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job m (invariable)

  1. job (employment role, computing task)

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English job.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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job m (plural jobs)

  1. (Brazil, computing) job (task carried out in batch mode)
    Synonym: tarefa
  1. (Brazil, slang) prostitution
    Ela é do job ― She's a hooker
    • 2024, “Menina do Job X Viciada em Sentar”, performed by Dj Junior Sales:
      Hoje em dia é difícil encontrar
      Uma menina que não trabalha no job
      Nowadays it's hard to find
      A girl who is not a slut

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English job.

Noun

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job n (plural joburi)

  1. job

Declension

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Declension of job
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) job jobul (niște) joburi joburile
genitive/dative (unui) job jobului (unor) joburi joburilor
vocative jobule joburilor

Zaghawa

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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job

  1. pocket

Further reading

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