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Webster 1913 Edition


Task

Task

(tȧsk)
,
Noun.
[OE.
taske
, OF.
tasque
, F.
tâche
, for
tasche
, LL.
tasca
,
taxa
, fr. L.
taxare
to rate, appraise, estimate. See
Tax
,
Noun.
&
Verb.
]
1.
Labor or study imposed by another, often in a definite quantity or amount.
Ma
task
of servile toil.
Milton.
Each morning sees some
task
begin,
Each evening sees it close.
Longfellow.
2.
Business; employment; undertaking; labor.
His mental powers were equal to greater
tasks
.
Atterbury.
To take to task
.
See under
Take
.
Syn. – Work; labor; employment; business; toil; drudgery; study; lesson; stint.

Task

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Tasked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Tasking
.]
1.
To impose a task upon; to assign a definite amount of business, labor, or duty to.
There
task
thy maids, and exercise the loom.
Dryden.
2.
To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
3.
To charge; to tax, as with a fault.
Too impudent to
task
me with those errors.
Beau. & Fl.

Webster 1828 Edition


Task

T`ASK

, n.
1.
Business imposed by another, often a definite quantity or amount of labor. Each man has his task. When he has performed his task, his time is his own. Ex.5.
2.
Business; employment.
His mental powers were equal to greater tasks.
3.
Burdensome employment.
To take to task, to reprove; to reprimand; as, to take one to task for idleness.

T`ASK

, v.t.
1.
To impose a task; to assign to one a definite amount of business or labor.
2.
To burden with some employment; to require to perform.
There task thy maids, and exercise the loom.

Definition 2024


Task

Task

See also: task

German Low German

Alternative forms

Noun

Task f (plural Tasken)

  1. bag; purse; pouch
  2. pocket

task

task

See also: Task

English

Noun

task (plural tasks)

  1. A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.
    • 2013 August 10, A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
  2. A difficult or tedious undertaking.
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.   Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
  3. An objective.
  4. (computing) A process or execution of a program.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

  • Adjectives often applied to "task": difficult, easy, simple, hard, tough, complex, not-so-easy, challenging, complicated, tricky, formidable, arduous, laborious, onerous, small, big, huge, enormous, tremendous, gigantic, mammoth, colossal, gargantuan, social, intellectual, theological, important, basic, trivial, unpleasant, demanding, pleasant, noble, painful, grim, responsible, rewarding, boring, ungrateful, delightful, glorious, agreeable.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

task (third-person singular simple present tasks, present participle tasking, simple past and past participle tasked)

  1. (transitive) To assign a task to, or impose a task on.
    On my first day in the office, I was tasked with sorting a pile of invoices.
    • 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 1 scene 2:
      All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come / To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, / To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task / Ariel and all his quality.
    • Dryden
      There task thy maids, and exercise the loom.
  2. (transitive) To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
  3. (transitive) To charge, as with a fault.
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      Too impudent to task me with those errors.

Translations

Anagrams