“work” in Latin

An outward action, opus (the proper word): factum (thing done). Good works, recte, honeste facta (Cic.): if = a virtuous life, virtus; vita sancta (ib.): bad works, male facta; maleficia (ib.): a work of love, of mercy, factum ab amore, a misericordia profectum. To make short work with anything, rem praecidere.

Labor, opus: opera: labor [SYN. in LABOR].

Task, doing, opus. To complete a work begun, opus coeptum perficere, pertexere: it seems hardly like the work of men, vix humanae opis videtur (Liv., 10, 29): this is the work of a single man, hoc ab uno fit (Cic., Mil., 33, 90). To begin or undertake a work, aggredi, suscipere aliquam rem; inchoare opus; ad opus faciendum se conferre (after Cic.): to have a great work on hand, magnum opus habere in manibus (Cic., Acad. 1, 1, 2): to leave a work unfinished, opus omittere, inchoatum relinquere (after Cic.): to put the finishing hand to one’s work, extremam manum operi imponere (Verg.); summam manum imponere operi (Sen.): this is not my work, hoc ego non feci; hoc non per me factum est (after Cic.): it is evidently the work of chance and accident, casu et fortuito aliquid factum esse apparet (Cic.): clerk of the works, exactor operis (Col., 3, 13, 10; ☞ Liv., 45, 37).

A thing wrought and completed, product, opus; factum. A little work, opusculum.

Plural, works = fortifications, etc., opera, plur.; munitiones; munimenta.

Plural, works of a machine, machina: compages.

A written composition, opus; also, corpus: monumentum (e.g., opera, monumenta Graecorum): a small work = a little book, libellus; opusculum (a short or trifling piece of composition, Hor.).

Intransitively,

To labor, opus facere (especially of agricultural labor; for which we find more rarely operari): laborem subire, obire: operam dare alicui rei: operam locare, ponere, consumere in aliqua re (Cic.): in opere esse (Sen.): in opere occupatum esse (Caes.): (of litterary work), litterarum studia exercere (Cic.); doctrinae studiis navare (Johann August Ernesti): to work with the needle, acu pingere (to embroider): suere (to sew): to work by lamp or candle light, especially before daybreak, lucubrare: to work all night, ad laborem nullam partem noctis intermittere: to work day and night, opus continuare diem et noctem: to work for pay, operam suam locare; for anybody, alicui: work and pray, ora et labora; auspicare laborem a precationibus (Ianus).

To exert force, take effect, vim habere (not vim exserere, which is not Latin): efficacem esse (to work or be effective). The medicine works, concipitur venis medicamentum; does not work, medicamentum imbecillius est quam morbus: the medicine works so powerfully, tanta vis est medicamenti: the medicine works well, commode facit (Cels.): to work upon anything, vim habere or exercere in aliquid; on anybody, aliquem or alicujus animum movere or commovere.

To ferment, Vid: Transitively, tractare aliquid (general term, to handle anything): dolare, edolare aliquid (to cut with a carpenter’s axe, wood, etc. Respecting asciare and exasciare, Vid: HEW): subigere (to prepare thoroughly, by kneading, ploughing, etc.; e.g., bread, leather, land): colere, excolere aliquid (to cultivate; figuratively educate): that can be easily worked, tractabilis: to work a ship, navem agitare (after Nep.): to work land, agrum colere, moliri, arare (to plough); a mine, fodinam.

To work at, laborare: elaborare in aliqua re (to work hard at anything with a view to a result; but elaborare aliquid = to pursue anything with great pains; in Cic. only in the passive): operam dare alicui rei; versari or operam et studium collocare in re (to be occupied with anything): to work at a fresh or anew, retractare (to take in hand again; a writing, etc.): recolere (to cultivate again; land, etc.): de integro facere (to make quite new again; e.g., a play, fabulam).

To work off, tollere (to clear by work): *opera sua compensare (to pay a debt by labor, instead of money): at a printing-press, *librum typis exscribere, describere, exprimere (not imprimere) [Vid: To PRINT].

To work out = To work carefully and in all parts, elaborare (but in classic prose only in the passive, especially in the perfect participle); perficere, also with diligenter: concoquere (PROP., to digest; then, figuratively = to think over; e.g., what has been read; Sen., Ep., 84, 6; for which Ep. 2, 4, ed. Rup., has excoquere): = To get through by labor and diligence, perfodere: penetrare per aliquid (to penetrate through): emergere re and ex re (figuratively, to work one’s way out from; e.g., mendicitate): tollere (to clear; e.g., a debt by work).