worker
(ˈwɜːkə(r))
Forms: see work v.
[f. work v. + -er1. Cf. Du. werker, MHG. wercker (G. werker).]
1. One who makes, creates, produces, or contrives. † a. Applied to God as maker or creator; sometimes absol. the Creator, (one's) Maker. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1501 Þe worcher of þis worlde. 1382 Wyclif Job xxxvi. 3 My werkere I shal proue riȝtwis. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlvi. 53 He, of natur that wirker wes and king. Ibid. 60 He, the wirker, that put in hir sic grace. 1557 N.T. (Genev.) Ep. *ij, God the Creatour, moste perfect and excellent worker of all thinges. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. §2 Only the workes and operations of God haue him both or their worker, and for the lawe whereby they are wrought. a 1602 W. Perkins Cases Consc. (1619) 4 He is the author and worker thereof [i.e. of goodness]. |
b. An author, producer, contriver, or doer;
† also with epithet, as
evil worker = evil doer.
arch.| c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 261 And therfore in the worcher was the vice. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 266 Þus men mai have prophecie, and al þes habitis in þer soule, and be schrewid wirchirs. 1382 ― Luke xiii. 27 Alle worcheris of wickidnesse. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. ii. (Skeat) l. 63 Al your werkes be cleped seconde, and moven in vertue of the firste wercher. c 1400 tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 88 Þe werkere of meruaylles ys oon god. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. ii. 427 God is the cheef and principal and veri worcher of the principal effect. c 1470 Henry Wallace iii. 344 Causer of wer, wyrkar of wykitnes. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. iii. 103, I sall the warrand, and the wirkar [orig. auctor] be To mak the baldly vndertak. 1526 Tindale Phil. iii. 2 Beware of dogges, beware of evyll workers. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Rom. iii. 5–8 They can not laye to goddes charge the synnes, wherof themself be wylful workers. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence, Andria ii. vi, If any thing happen otherwise then well, euen that same varlet is the worker of it. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 107 The workers of the common safetie. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 286 They believe that the devil is the doer or worker of every thing that gives offence. 1843 Tait's Mag. X. 606 The worker of all this evil. 1867 Morris Jason xvii. 441 She grew to be the sorceress, Worker of fearful things. |
c. transf. of things.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter ii. 11 Dred is wirkere of vertus. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.) 106 The Tobacco..was the worker of that miracle. 1612 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb iv. i, You can say well: if you be mine, wench, you must doe well too, for words are but slow workers. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes iii, What a worker of hypocrisy this sight..would appear to be! |
† d. ? A commercial agent.
Obs.| 1560 Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) I. 323 The cheiffe sercher (whome ys all my worcker, and conveyer of all my velvets). |
2. a. One who works or does work of any kind (sometimes with
adj. denoting the quality of the work);
esp. one who works
in a certain medium,
at a specified trade or object of manufacture, or in a certain position or status (often denoted by prefixed
n., etc., as
boiler-worker,
cloth-worker,
iron-worker,
metal-worker;
co-worker,
fellow-worker;
brain-worker,
hand-worker); in early use also,
† a maker or manufacturer (
of a specified thing).
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxxvii. 13, 14 With the werkere, of alle werk [Vulg. cum operario agrario, de omni opere]. 1388 ― Acts xix. 24 A man, Demetrie bi name, a worcher in siluer. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. vi. 98 Now haue we none instrumentes, ne here ben no werkers for to make them newe. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 62 Oon of thi workers falle [the tree] That kunyngest is of his felous alle. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. v. (1883) 119 The two laste that ben practisiens and werkers ben callyd phisicyens and cyrurgyens. 1487 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 404/2 Th' Offices of Maister and Werker of oure Money. 1530 Tindale Exod. xxxv. 35 Broderers and workers with nedle. 1566 Act 8 Eliz. c. 11 §4 Every Hatmaker that is nowe a maker or worker of Hates. 1611 Cotgr., Ouvrier, a workeman; an Artificer, or handi⁓craftsman..& generally, any worker. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 357 Lazy people, and no good workers. 1663 Cowley Ode upon Dr. Harvey iii, He so exactly does the work survey, As if he hir'd the workers by the day. 1760 Court & City Reg. 224 His Majesty's Mint... Master and Worker. Hon. Wm. Chetwynd, Esq. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 76 Mr. Naish, tin-plate-worker. 1767 Phil. Trans. LVIII. 41 Another worker in ivory cut through that tusk which Lord Shelburne gave me. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. x, I spoke of you as an out-of-door worker. 1877 Oxf. & Camb. Undergrad. Jrnl. 25 Jan. 173/2 Cowles not only has the knack of getting work out of his men, but is a very hard worker himself, though not a pretty oar. 1882 Besant All Sorts xxxv. (1898) 242 There are a great many workers—ladies, priests, clergymen—among them, trying to remove some of the suffering. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 207 The full happiness of that time to me cannot be explained except to consistently hard workers. |
b. In emphatic use,
esp. as opposed to
idler, or the like.
| 1628 C. Levett Voy. N. Eng. viii. in Collect. Mass. Hist. Soc. Ser. iii. VIII. 190 Except for every three loiterers, he have one worker. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxviii, A dreamy, neutral spectator..when he should have been a worker. 1866 Ruskin Crown Wild Olive i. 8 The distinction between workers and idlers, as between knaves and honest men. 1871 ― Fors Clav. ix. 4 note, Here and there we have a real worker among soldiers, or no soldiering would long be possible. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Fabian Ess. 6 Rent..paid..by a worker to a drone. |
c. One who is employed for a wage,
esp. in manual or industrial work; now often in the language of social economics, a ‘producer of wealth’, as opposed to
capitalist.
| 1848 Kingsley in Benham Cassell's Bk. Quot. (1907) 185 Workers of England, be wise, and then you must be free. 1857 Househ. Words 27 June 603/1 The first great body of workers, namely the clerks [i.e. railway clerks]. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 14 They belonged to the ancient and honourable family of Workers—that extensive family which constitutes the backbone of our country's greatness, the common working people of England. 1867 Levi Wages Working Classes 6 Some have limited the meaning to such as are in receipt of weekly wages, and some would limit the term ‘workers’ to such as are employed in the production of wealth. It might seem also a condition of such appellation that the person should stand in the capacity of servant or worker for others... On the other hand, we must remember that in many occupations the workers are paid by the month or quarter. 1885 E. B. Bax Relig. Socialism (1886) 125 This, then, is the empire which the blood and sinew of you, workers, are squandered to maintain and extend. 1891 Morris Poems by Way 112 For that which the worker winneth shall then be his indeed, Nor shall half be reaped for nothing by him that sowed no seed. |
d. Of animals:
† (
a) A draught animal.
Obs.| 1617 Toke (Kent) Estate Acc. (MS.) fol. 9 One payer workers at {pstlg}15. |
(
b) A horse, dog, etc. that works (well).
| 1844 [J. W. Carleton] Hyde Marston I. 74 It's not fair to keep the double thong always going with a free worker. 1874 Kennel Club Stud Bk. 161 Bell and Lilly..the latter being a small, mean-looking white bitch, but a very good worker. 1908 Animal Managem. 283 Geldings..were proved to be very good workers in Somaliland. |
(
c) The neuter or undeveloped female of certain social hymenopterous and other insects, as ants and bees, which supplies food and performs other services for the community.
| 1747 W. Gould Engl. Ants 73 As soon as the Queen has deposited a Parcel of Eggs, the Workers take them under their Protection. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xvii. (1817) II. 32 The workers or larvæ, answering to the hymenopterous neuters, are the most numerous and at the same time most active part of the community. 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 351 Fertile workers lay none but male eggs. |
e. U.S. Politics. One of a class of political agents or partizans subordinate to a ‘boss’.
| 1873 ‘Mark Twain’ Gilded Age xliv. 399 In Washington he was..clerk of two house committees, a ‘worker’ in politics. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lxiii. 451 The large and active class called, technically, ‘workers’, or more affectionately, ‘the Boys.’ |
3. Applied to apparatus or pieces of machinery.
† a. A vessel in which wine has ‘worked’.
Obs. b. One of the small card-covered cylinders or ‘urchins’ in a carding-machine.
c. A leather-worker's two-handled knife (Knight
Dict. Mech., Suppl. 1884).
d. In pillow lace-making,
pl. the bobbins that are worked across a pattern.
e. = washer n.1 5 b.
f. With prefixed
n., applied to an apparatus for ‘working’ the material denoted by the
n., as
butter-worker.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 70 Let your vessel bee such as hath alreadie conteined some muste or other liquor that hath wrought therin, (for he that knoweth not the vse of a worker is but a slender artist). 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 167 Each pair of cylinders consists of a worker and a cleaner somewhat less in size than its fellow, and turning in the reverse direction of the drum. 1853 ― Dict. Arts I. 766 The points of this roller (called a ‘worker’) are inclined in a direction opposed to the movement of the swift. 1853 Beils' Technol. Wbch., Worker, Washer in paper manufacture. 1878 Technol. Dict., Worker, Stripper of the scribbling-machine. 1885 J. J. Manley Brit. Almanac Comp. 18 The butter-milk and water are carefully pressed out in one of Bradford's butter workers. |
4. With adverbs, as
worker-up (see
work v. 40).
| 1656 Second Ed. New Almanack 10 He be no very good worker up. 1698 Acts Massachusetts (1724) 116 Tanners, Curriers, and Dressers, or Workers up of Leather. 1848 Sinks of Lond. 3 The worker-up of novels. |
5. attrib., as (sense 2 d (
c))
worker ant,
worker bee,
worker cell,
worker grub;
worker bobbin = 3 d;
worker card = 3 b.
worker-director, a worker who is also on the board of directors of a firm;
worker participation [
participation 2 b], participation of workers in the management of the firms or industries for which they work;
worker-peasant, used
attrib. with reference to co-operation between urban and rural communities in Communist China; similarly
worker-peasant-soldier;
worker-priest,
orig. a Roman Catholic priest in post-war France who earned his living as a factory-worker or the like; now more widely, a priest who engages in secular work for part of his time.
| 1882 Athenæum 1 July 18/3 As in bees and wasps, worker ants occasionally produce fertile eggs. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xix. (1817) II. 138 The instinct and industry of the worker-bees. Ibid. xxiv. 394 When all the worker-brood was removed from a hive, and only male brood left. |
| 1894 C. Vickerman Woollen Spinning 159 We call one of each of the pairs of top rollers a ‘worker’ card, in distinction from the adjoining one, which is a stripper. |
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xix. (1817) II. 161 The instinct of the queen invariably directs her to deposit worker eggs in worker cells. |
| 1881 Cowan Bee-keeper's Guide Bk. vii. 20 If we examine a hive, we shall find that worker-comb is 7/8ths of an inch..thick. |
| 1968 Economist 3 Aug. 53 The proposal—that worker-directors should be put on the boards of a number of nationalised industries..—is a waste of time. 1980 Whitaker's Almanack 1981 583/2 Sir Keith Joseph announced the ending of the Post Office worker-director experiment. |
| 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 561 It is not invariably found that the bees will at once convert a worker grub into a queen. |
| 1973 Guardian 19 June 17/4 Mr Heath's..flourish of the worker participation banner. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 326/2 ‘Industrial democracy’, probably better called ‘worker participation’. |
| [1937 E. Snow Red Star over China iv. vi. 173 The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Committee was organized about this time.] 1962 ― Other Side of River (1963) xviii. 135 This he managed to do by means of postulating the existence of a ‘rural proletariat’ and a worker-peasant army under the leadership of the Communist party itself acting as the vanguard of the true (urban) proletariat. 1968 in Gray & Cavendish Chinese Communism in Crisis 210 All enterprises with suitable conditions should introduce in a big way the worker-peasant labour system. 1976 tr. Tuan Jui-hsia in Yenan Seeds & Other Stories 19 Spring was very much in the air in the Worker-Peasant-Soldier Theatre. |
| 1949 Commonweal 29 July 385/2 We must bow our heads in deep humility before the heroism of the worker priest. 1959 Manch. Guardian 4 Aug. 3/3 Five worker-priests..believed to be the only ones in the Church of England..do manual work, live on their factory earnings and receive no ecclesiastical stipends. 1970 Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 11/3 The Anglican church makes a distinction between worker-priests, who exercise a priestly function at their workplace, and priest-workers, who do an ordinary job, then return to parish work, usually as curate, in their ‘spare time’. 1984 Times 28 May 10/8, I could not help wondering how it would be received by the congregations of, say, a worker priest in Nicaragua. |
6. Comb. with
workers', as (sense 2 c)
workers' committee,
workers' control,
workers' flat;
workers' co-operative, a business or industry owned and managed by those who work for it;
Workers' Educational Association, the name of an organization founded in 1903 to provide evening classes and tutorials in economic, political, and liberal studies, originally for working people.
| 1965 J. Kolaja Workers' Councils ii. 28 The highly skilled workers' committee, and the apartments committee were considered temporary. 1972 M. Argyle Social Psychol. of Work viii. 217 The workers' committees have worked well, and members have acted responsibly on them. |
| 1928 Britain's Industrial Future (Liberal Party) iii. xviii. 228 Consultation with a body of workers will improve and strengthen it [sc. a business]; anything that can accurately be described as ‘workers' control’ will destroy it. 1974 Times 5 Apr. 16/5 As a trades unionist, I am in favour of workers' control. |
| [1923 in Internat. Index to Periodicals (1924) III. 1417/1 What is the United Workers' co-operative association?] 1937 Commonweal 3 Dec. 145 (heading) Workers' cooperatives. 1965 B. Pearce tr. Preobrazhensky's New Economics 220 Workers' co-operatives..essentially do nothing more than rationalize the system of distribution within the state sector. 1981 J. Tilley in J. Thornley Workers' Co-operatives p. vi, Workers' co-operatives are suddenly being hailed as panaceas for unemployment, alienation, inner city decay and industrial strife. |
| 1903 (title) The Workers' Educational Association. 1936 N. & Q. 11 July 19/2 What is gained from the University Extension, the Workers' Educational Association, or a year of study at Ruskin College? 1980 J. L. Thompson Adult Education for Change 22 The Workers' Educational Association provision has in many respects become barely distinguishable from that promoted by the universities, despite its roots in workers' education and political and economic studies. |
| 1932 S. Jameson Single Heart v. 127 She was able..to buy a slum estate in Evan's constituency and build on it blocks of workers' flats. 1982 S. Grant Duff Parting of Ways vi. 54 The shelling of the workers' flats in Vienna in February 1934. |