▪ I. wark, warch, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(wɑːk), (wɑːtʃ)
Forms: 1 wærc, 3 warche, 5 werk(e, 5–6 warke, 7 warck, 7– warch, 9 wark.
[OE. wærc masc. = ON. verk-r (Sw. värk pain, Da. værk gout, rheumatism):—OTeut. *warki-z, from the same root as *werko-m work n.
With the dial. variation between the types wark and warch cf. the similar variation in ME. between like and liche (like a.). The form wark may be partly due to ON. verkr.]
A pain, an ache.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xix. (1890) 322 Seo readnis & bryne þæs swiles & wærces. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 318 Wiþ maᵹan wærce wyl pic on cu meolce. a 1225 Ancr. R. 326 Þet he ne mei..speken ase he schulde, bute gronen uor his eche [MS. T. warche]. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 2811 As warysche I my warke [MS. Dubl. werk] þat I am in wonden. 14.. Medical Receipts in Rel. Ant. I. 51 For evel and werke in bledder: take ache, percel [etc.]. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 265 Furth-with a grete warke went þurgh his hand. 1570 Levins Manip. 32/1 Warke, ache, dolor. 1613 Potts Discov. Witches T 3 b, Hee hath beene sore pained with great warch in his bones. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Wark..a pain or ache. ‘The belly wark.’ 1862 [C. C. Robinson] Dial. Leeds s.v., Gotten t' back-wark, shoother-wark, leg-wark..—ne'er wur so done up i' my life. |
▪ II. † wark, n.2 Obs.
Also 8 werk.
[Of obscure origin.]
(See quots.)
| 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. Pref. B 2 b, I know not but that the several Species of new Ferns..may be discover'd upon some of the Stones or Slates called Werk, which lie in plenty in the Strata over the Cole-pits in many Places of England. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. I. 68 In several of the Coal Pits of this Country [Somerset], the Veins are covered with a Shell of hard, and stony Substance called Wark, which splits like Slate, but is much more brittle. |
▪ III. wark, warch, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(wɑːk), (wɑːtʃ)
Forms: 1 wærcan, 3 warche, 5 werk, 6 warke, 7 warck, 7, 9 warch, 5– wark.
[OE. wærcan = ON. verkja, virkja:—OTeut. *werkjan, f. *werki-z: see wark n.1]
intr. To ache, suffer pain; to throb painfully. (In OE. impers. with accus., like L. dolet.)
| a 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 272 Ᵹif hine innan wærce ᵹenim niᵹes ealað amber fulne [etc.]. Ibid. 318. a 1225 Ancr. R. 368 Leste hor heaued aeke [MS. T. warche]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 523/1 Werkyn', and akyn' as a soore lymme, doleo, indoleo. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 100 Yit it was a grete mervayle, for for all þis, nowder warkid hur hevud, nor sho lefte not þe labur of hur handis. c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 269 My bonys ar so stark, No wonder if thay wark, ffor I am full old. c 1520 Skelton Magnyf. 1581, I wolde hauke whylest my hede dyd warke. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii. 77 For laik of quhilks my heid dois wark and ȝaik. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words, Warch, or Wark, to ake, to work. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss. s.v., My corns warchen. 1881 J. Sargisson Joe Scoap's Jurneh 50 (Cumbld. Gloss.) Me heid warkt as it had niver warkt afooar. |
Hence ˈwarking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| c 1340 Hampole Ps. xxxvii. 2 Þin arues ere festid in me: þat is, þi vengaunce, as werkyngis of body and saule. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1238 The souerayn..the kyng with the caupe caste to þe ground, With a warchand wounde thurgh his wedis all. Ibid. 10035. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 523/1 Werkynge, or heede ake, cephalia. c 1460 Towneley Myst. vi. 8, I haue maide me, in this strete, sore bonys & warkand feete. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 732 Thai..Wrocht the Sotheroun mony werkand wound. Ibid. 858. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. ii. 157 Nocht long eftir, throuch the warking woundes that in the battel he receiuet, he dies. Ibid. II. x. 397. |
▪ IV. wark
obs. and dial. form of work n. and v.