works meaning: definition, quotations

works

noun

UK /wɜːks/ · US /wɝks/

A factory or factories, or a similar collection(s) of industrial facilities.

The steel works almost fills the valley.
In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Derived terms: gum up the works, spanner in the works, Stoke Works, works agreement, works council, works councillor, works team, wrench in the works
Hyponyms: 55 terms
battleworks, bleachworks, brassworks, brickworks, bronzeworks, candleworks, cement works, chainworks, coalworks, cokeworks, copperworks, deadworks, dyeworks, enamelworks, engineering works, false works, fishworks, freezing works, gas works, gasworks, glassworks, gunworks, headworks, iceworks, ironworks, laceworks, leatherworks, limeworks, loomworks, meatworks, metalworks, monkey wrench in the works, oilworks, paperworks, pinworks, potworks, printworks, railworks, saltworks, semi-works, silkworks, skunkworks, smelting works, soapworks, softworks, steelworks, streamworks, tanworks, tileworks, tryworks, upperworks, wagonworks, waterworks, woolworks, zincworks

noun

A mechanism or machinery; the means by which something happens.

Aged and degraded oil and grease can really gum up the works.
Something clicked in his throat, as if he had works in him like a clock, and was going to strike.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 37:

With definite article Everything or everything that is available or possible; especially, all available toppings on food.

I'll have a Behemoth Burger with the works.
My my they wanted the works, can you this and that / I never got a letter back1974, Brian Eno, “Dead Finks Don't Talk”, in Here Come the Warm Jets:

1 more example

You like this? Limousine, champagne, the works. I'd get you on MTV, a national tour. Sponsorship. You name it.1985, Ralph Farquhar, Krush Groove, spoken by Terri Beiker (Charles Stettler):

With definite article Drastic treatment; abuse; the axe (dismissal).

Why did Constantinople get the works?1953, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”, Jimmy Kennedy (lyrics):
"Why don't we pull him in on tax evasion or misuse of the mails or parkin' in front of a hydrant or sumpn? Take him down to the Tombs and give 'em the works? If the Feds won't do it, we'd be glad to oblige."1954, Ian Fleming, “The Big Switchboard”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 36:

1 more example

It's not, really, but I didn't want consolation. I wanted the works, and I got it, too.1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 161:

Slang A heroin or other drug addict's equipment: syringes, needles, etc.

While in San Francisco, where the AIDS crisis was particularly devastating, they saw numerous public awareness signs reading “Bleach Your Works” posted around the city, urging IV drug users to clean their needles with bleach to help staunch the spread of the disease.2009, Gillian G. Gaar, The Rough Guide to Nirvana, Rough Guides UK, →ISBN: