job

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: Prov. E. job, gob, noun, a small piece of wood, v., to stab, strike; cf. E. gob, gobbet; perh. influenced by E. chop to cut off, to mince. See Gob.

1. A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.

2. A piece of chance or occasional work; any definite work undertaken in gross for a fixed price; as, he did the job for a thousand dollars.

3. 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.

4. Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately. colloquial

5. A situation or opportunity of work; as, he lost his job. colloquial

6. A task, or the execution of a task; as, Michelangelo did a great job on the David statue.

7. Computers A task or coordinated set of tasks for a multitasking computer, submitted for processing as a single unit, usually for execution in background. See job control language.

☞ Job is used adjectively to signify doing jobs, used for jobs, or let on hire to do jobs; as, job printer; job master; job horse; job wagon, etc.

By the job, at a stipulated sum for the work, or for each piece of work done; — distinguished from time work; as, the house was built by the job. — Job lot, a quantity of goods, usually miscellaneous, sold out of the regular course of trade, at a certain price for the whole; as, these articles were included in a job lot. — Job master, one who lest out horses and carriages for hire, as for family use. British — Job printer, one who does miscellaneous printing, esp. circulars, cards, billheads, etc. — Odd job, miscellaneous work of a petty kind; occasional work, of various kinds, or for various people. — to do a job on, to harm badly or destroy. slang — on the job, alert; performing a responsibility well. slang

1. To strike or stab with a pointed instrument. Sir Roger L'Estrange

2. To thrust in, as a pointed instrument. Joseph Moxon

3. To do or cause to be done by separate portions or lots; to sublet (work); as, to job a contract.

4. Commerce To buy and sell, as a broker; to purchase of importers or manufacturers for the purpose of selling to retailers; as, to job goods.

5. To hire or let by the job or for a period of service; as, to job a carriage. William M. Thackeray

1. To do chance work for hire; to work by the piece; to do petty work.

Authors of all work, to job for the season.— Thomas Moore

2. To seek private gain under pretense of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.

And judges job, and bishops bite the town.— Alexander Pope

3. To carry on the business of a jobber in merchandise or stocks.

The hero of the book of that name in the Old Testament; the prototypical patient man.

Job's comforter. (a) A false friend; a tactless or malicious person who, under pretense of sympathy, insinuates rebukes. (b) A boil. colloquial — Job's news, bad news. Thomas Carlyle — Job's tears Botany, a kind of grass (Coix Lacryma), with hard, shining, pearly grains.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: +PJC, GCIDE editors

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

<operating system> All activities involved in completing any project on a computer from start to finish. A job may involve several processes and several programs.

This term originates from a time when a user would manually submit a job as a deck of punched cards which would typically include source code interspersed with job control language instructions to guide phases of the job such as compilation, linking, execution and printing.

(2005-03-16)