Talk:work out

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work out

Sense:

1. (transitive, with object between work and out) To extract gradually.

   Using some tweezers, he worked the bee sting out of his hand.

I suggest we replace this definition line with

1. {{&lit|work|out}}

since, after all, you can also work a peg into a hole, work a peg in (with location understood), work a peg from a hole ([1]), etc. Perhaps add another usex for other not-as-an-idiom meanings.​—msh210℠ (talk) 19:19, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes. I would start by just adding {{&lit}} and usage examples at [[work]]. I'd like to work such NISoP definitions completely out of all phrasal-verb entries, perhaps even treating Category:English phrasal verbs as a cleanup list. DCDuring TALK 00:50, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Support this proposal. Mglovesfun (talk) 12:13, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Done.​—msh210℠ (talk) 16:38, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Possible missing senses

Chambers 1908 defines this phrase as "to expiate" and "to exhaust". Equinox ◑ 19:55, 22 March 2020 (UTC)