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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
wrought
    adj 1: shaped to fit by or as if by altering the contours of a
           pliable mass (as by work or effort); "a shaped handgrip";
           "the molded steel plates"; "the wrought silver bracelet"
           [syn: shaped, molded, wrought]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Work \Work\ (w[^u]rk), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Worked (w[^u]rkt),
   or Wrought (r[add]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Working.] [AS.
   wyrcean (imp. worthe, wrohte, p. p. geworht, gewroht); akin
   to OFries. werka, wirka, OS. wirkian, D. werken, G. wirken,
   Icel. verka, yrkja, orka, Goth. wa['u]rkjan. [root]145. See
   Work, n.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To exert one's self for a purpose; to put forth effort for
      the attainment of an object; to labor; to be engaged in
      the performance of a task, a duty, or the like.
      [1913 Webster]

            O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work,
            To match thy goodness?                --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw
            be given you.                         --Ex. v. 18.
      [1913 Webster]

            Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake,
            Our life doth pass.                   --Sir J.
                                                  Davies.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, in a general sense, to operate; to act; to perform;
      as, a machine works well.
      [1913 Webster]

            We bend to that the working of the heart. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hence, figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or
      influence; to conduce.
      [1913 Webster]

            We know that all things work together for good to
            them that love God.                   --Rom. viii.
                                                  28.
      [1913 Webster]

            This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he
            desired to be taught.                 --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            She marveled how she could ever have been wrought
            upon to marry him.                    --Hawthorne.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed
      customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor;
      to toil.
      [1913 Webster]

            They that work in fine flax . . . shall be
            confounded.                           --Isa. xix. 9.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To be in a state of severe exertion, or as if in such a
      state; to be tossed or agitated; to move heavily; to
      strain; to labor; as, a ship works in a heavy sea.
      [1913 Webster]

            Confused with working sands and rolling waves.
                                                  --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To make one's way slowly and with difficulty; to move or
      penetrate laboriously; to proceed with effort; -- with a
      following preposition, as down, out, into, up, through,
      and the like; as, scheme works out by degrees; to work
      into the earth.
      [1913 Webster]

            Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
            Proportioned to each kind.            --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. To ferment, as a liquid.
      [1913 Webster]

            The working of beer when the barm is put in.
                                                  --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a
      cathartic.
      [1913 Webster]

            Purges . . . work best, that is, cause the blood so
            to do, . . . in warm weather or in a warm room.
                                                  --Grew.
      [1913 Webster]
      [1913 Webster]

   To work at, to be engaged in or upon; to be employed in.

   To work to windward (Naut.), to sail or ply against the
      wind; to tack to windward. --Mar. Dict.
      [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Wrought \Wrought\,
   imp. & p. p. of Work; as, What hath God wrought?.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: In 1837, Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist,
         devised a working electric telegraph, based on a rough
         knowledge of electrical circuits, electromagnetic
         induction coils, and a scheme to encode alphabetic
         letters. He and his collaborators and backers
         campaigned for years before persuading the federal
         government to fund a demonstration. Finally, on May 24,
         1844, they sent the first official long-distance
         telegraphic message in Morse code, "What hath God
         wrought," through a copper wire strung between
         Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. The phrase
         was taken from the Bible, Numbers 23:23. It had been
         suggested to Morse by Annie Ellworth, the young
         daughter of a friend. --Library of Congress, American
         Memories series
         (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may24.html).
         [PJC]

               Alas that I was wrought [created]! --Chaucer.
         [1913 Webster]

   Note: The word wrought is sometimes assumed to be the past
         tense of wreak, as the phrases

   wreak havoc and

   wrought havoc are both commonly used. In fact,

   wrought havoc is not as common as

   wreaked havoc. Whether wrought is considered as the past
      tense of wreak or of work,

   wrought havoc has essentially the same meaning, encouraging
      the confusion. Etymologically, however, wrought is only
      the past tense of work.
      [PJC]

            Wrought and wreaked havoc
            Recently, we mentioned that something had wreaked
            havoc with our PC. We were fairly quickly corrected
            by someone who said, "Shouldn't that be wrought
            havoc?" The answer is no, because either wreaked or
            wrought is fine here. A misconception often arises
            because wrought is wrongly assumed to be the past
            participle of wreak. In fact wrought is the past
            participle of an early version of the word work!
            Wreak comes from Old English wrecan "drive out,
            punish, avenge", which derives ultimately from the
            Indo-European root *wreg- "push, shove, drive, track
            down". Latin urgere "to urge" comes from the same
            source, giving English urge. Interestingly, wreak is
            also related to wrack and wreck. The phrase wreak
            havoc was first used by Agatha Christie in 1923.
            Wrought, on the other hand, arose in the 13th
            century as the past participle of wirchen, Old
            English for "work". In the 15th century worked came
            into use as the past participle of work, but wrought
            survived in such phrases as finely-wrought,
            hand-wrought, and, of course, wrought havoc . . . .
            Havoc, by the way, comes from Anglo-French havok,
            which derived from the phrase crier havot "to cry
            havoc". This meant "to give the army the order to
            begin seizing spoil, or to pillage". It is thought
            that this exclamation was Germanic in origin, but
            that's all that anyone will say about it! The
            destruction associated with pillaging came to be
            applied metaphorically to havoc, giving the word its
            current meaning.
                                                  --The
                                                  Institute for
                                                  Etymological
                                                  Research and
                                                  Education
                                                  (http://www.takeourword.com/Issue048.html)
      [PJC]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Wrought \Wrought\, a.
   1. Worked; elaborated; not rough or crude.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Shaped by beating with a hammer; as, wrought iron.
      [PJC]

   Wrought iron. See under Iron.
      [1913 Webster]

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