job

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.

Folk etymology linked the word to Job, the biblical character who suffered many misfortunes; for semantic development of misery and labor, compare Vulgar Latin *tripalium (“instrument of torture”) and its Romance descendants like Spanish trabajo and French travail (whence borrowed into English travail).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: jŏb, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɒb/

• Audio (southern England)

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• (General American) enPR: jŏb, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɑb/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɒb

job (plural jobs)

1. A task.

   I've got a job for you - could you wash the dishes?

   • 1996, Cameron Crowe, Jerry Maguire

     And it's my job to take care of the skanks on the road that you bang.

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.

   • 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)

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3. (in noun compounds) Plastic surgery.

   He had a nose job.

4. (in noun compounds) A sex act.

   hand job

5. (computing) A task, or series of tasks, carried out in batch mode (especially on a mainframe computer).
6. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
7. 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.
8. Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
9. (colloquial) A thing (often used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).

   Pass me that little job with the screw thread on it.

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, Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2, spoken by DS Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans), 14:17 from the start:

      “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, The Bay, season 3, episode 5, spoken by D.S Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason), 01:33 from the start:

      “I’m job, D.S Townsend. I have to report a missing person.”

• 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.

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.
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 strike or stab with a pointed instrument.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

     a raven pitch'd upon him, and there sate, jobbing of the sore

8. To thrust in, as a pointed instrument.
   • 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     And while the Tympan is coming , he slips his Left Hand Fingers from under the Frisket to the hither outer corner of it , as well to keep the Sheet close to the Tympan in its position , as to avoid the jobbing of the lower side of the Frisket against the small square shoulder

9. To hire or let in periods of service.

   to job a carriage

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, OCLC 3174108:

     […] ...and a pair of handsome horses were jobbed, with which Jos drove about in state in the park...

• employment
• work
• labour

• obj

From English job.

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

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

From English job.

• IPA^(key): [ˈd̥jʌb̥]

job n

1. job

Borrowed from English job.

• IPA^(key): /dʒɔp/

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• Hyphenation: job
• Rhymes: -ɔp

job f (plural jobs)

1. (chiefly Belgium) job

   Synonym: baan

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.

Borrowed from English job.

• IPA^(key): /dʒɔb/

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job m or f (plural jobs)

1. (informal) job (employment role)
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, informal) work

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

• (informal) boulot

• “job”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from English job.

job m (invariable)

1. job (employment role, computing task)

Unadapted borrowing from English job.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɔbi/, /ˈdʒɔb/

job m (plural jobs)

1. (Brazil, computing) job (task carried out in batch mode)

   Synonym: tarefa

Borrowed from English job.

job n (plural joburi)

1. job

• IPA^(key): /ɟɔp/

job

1. pocket

• Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad