the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
"he's not in my line of business"
a workplace; as in the expression `on the job'
"The team was having lunch on the job, taking their meal break right next to the assembly line without leaving the factory floor."
an object worked on; a result produced by working
"he held the job in his left hand and worked on it with his right"
the performance of a piece of work
"she did an outstanding job as Ophelia"
"he gave it up as a bad job"
a damaging piece of work
"dry rot did the job of destroying the barn"
"the barber did a real job on my hair"
a Jewish hero in the Old Testament who maintained his faith in God in spite of afflictions that tested him
"Although King David was often called a man after God's own heart, some older commentaries refer to Job as the true job because he never wavered when Satan stripped away everything he loved."
any long-suffering person who withstands affliction without despairing
"After years of enduring constant delays and rude customers, he remained the job in our office, never complaining or losing hope."
(computer science) a program application that may consist of several steps but is a single logical unit
"The developer noticed a bug in our new job, which failed to process the database transactions as a single logical unit despite running multiple background steps."
a book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply
"Many scholars study the Book of Job as much for its theological depth as for its raw depiction of human suffering."
A task.
"After losing his home to a fire, he showed such job that he continued helping strangers rebuild their shelters without complaint."
A person who shows remarkable patience, especially in the face of great misfortune.
In plain English: A job is something you do regularly to earn money.
"She changed her job to work at a new company last month."
Usage: Use "job" to refer to an occupation or task, not a patient person. The definition describing someone with remarkable patience is a rare literary usage that should generally be avoided in everyday speech.
profit privately from public office and official business
"The scandal erupted when it was revealed that a senior minister had jobbed by selling government contracts to his own construction company."
arranged for contracted work to be done by others
"The manager decided to outsource the job of cleaning the entire office building to a professional company instead of hiring extra staff."
To do odd jobs or occasional work for hire.
"After graduating, he took a few months off to do some odd jobs like moving furniture and cleaning gutters to save up for his trip."
In plain English: To job means to do something for someone else, often as a temporary task or favor.
"The heavy box was too much for him to job alone."
Usage: Use "job" as a verb when describing someone performing specific tasks or odd work for payment, often implying a temporary or casual engagement rather than a permanent career. For example, you might say he stopped to job the fence while waiting for his truck to arrive.
A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
"The priest explained that Job is a profound biblical story about suffering and faith found in both the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh."
The word "job" likely comes from an uncertain origin involving Middle English words for a mass of work or a piece of labor. It may have evolved from terms meaning to thrust or peck, eventually entering modern usage as a synonym for a specific task or assignment.