to go to work
95
2.0
- phrasal verb
- Down on the deck of the steamboat, the lieutenant goes to work testing the merchandise.
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Watch on YouTubeIs this healthcare system going to work in an era of cures?
- Is this healthcare system going to work in an era of cures?
- And the thing that I thought was going to work didn't work.
- He says, well, you know, that's not going to work either.
- But that hook is going to work on radio.
- That stuff ain't going to work over here.
- And if it's, if you know in advance that it's going to work, it is not an experiment.
- OK, so that's going to work for that one.
- That's not a universal that is going to work for us.
Examples
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When he sees one, he scoops it into a bin and goes to work.
Academic text (2011) -
...Kirk goes to work mixing his materials and constructing the cannon.
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I remember getting up and going to work.
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And they called me to go to work, and I was pregnant.
Academic text (1992) -
I was immediately concerned because he normally went to work from 4 p.m. until midnight.
Academic text (1992) -
To this day I don't remember going to work or school, even driving, for two months.
Academic text (2011) -
The user specifies hole depth, and the robot goes to work, controlled through camera-space manipulation.
Academic text (2004) -
I will go to work early tomorrow to avoid the traffic.
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After a long holiday, I am ready to go to work again.
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She decided to go to work from home today to stay safe.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To start working or be able to work, especially a machine
506
2.8
To make a machine or system work as it should
231
2.0
To start doing your job, often after a delay
57
1.1
Start working, like lights or an alarm
7
3.2
To begin working right away with energy
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'go' (begin to run/be in action) plus 'work' (to function/operate), so 'go to work' naturally yields 'begin operating' and is derivable by combining the constituents. This straightforward compositional pattern (go + to + work = start working/operate) is cross-linguistically common and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the component words.
Etymology
Go to work uses the picture of starting action: a machine or system starts to go and to work, like a pump that begins moving to clear water. So it means 'to begin operating or start doing its task'.