put to work

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Verb

put to work - cause to work; "he is working his servants hard"

exercise, work, work out - give a workout to; "Some parents exercise their infants"; "My personal trainer works me hard"; "work one's muscles"; "this puzzle will exercise your mind"

warm up - cause to do preliminary exercises so as to stretch the muscles; "The coach warmed up the players before the game"

apply, employ, use, utilise, utilize - put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose; "use your head!"; "we only use Spanish at home"; "I can't use this tool"; "Apply a magnetic field here"; "This thinking was applied to many projects"; "How do you utilize this tool?"; "I apply this rule to get good results"; "use the plastic bags to store the food"; "He doesn't know how to use a computer"

cybernate, computerise, computerize - control a function, process, or creation by a computer; "They computerized the car industry"; "we live in a cybernated age"; "cybernate a factory"

rack - put on a rack and pinion; "rack a camera"

overwork, exploit - work excessively hard; "he is exploiting the students"

do work, work - be employed; "Is your husband working again?"; "My wife never worked"; "Do you want to work after the age of 60?"; "She never did any work because she inherited a lot of money"; "She works as a waitress to put herself through college"

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References in classic literature ?

Every child that was large enough to carry a hoe was put to work, and the baby--for usually there was at least one baby--would be laid down at the end of the cotton row, so that its mother could give it a certain amount of attention when she had finished chopping her row.

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Out of the unknown, from the somewhere and something else, too unconditional for him to know any of the conditions, instantly they appeared, full-statured, walking about Meringe Plantation with loin-cloths about their middles and bone bodkins through their noses, and being put to work by Mister Haggin, Derby, and Bob.

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Other men, themselves failing to stake on lucky creeks, he put to work on his Bonanza claims.

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So the next day he went and found the man who had spoken to him, and promised to bring him a third of all he earned; and that same day he was put to work in Durham's cellars.

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He experimented with premiums for extra work performed by the black boys, and yearned continually for more of them to put to work. Not until Joan could return on the schooner would this be possible, for the professional recruiters were all under long contracts to the Fulcrum Brothers, Morgan and Raff, and the Fires, Philp Company; while the Flibberty-Gibbet was wholly occupied in running about among his widely scattered trading stations, which extended from the coast of New Georgia in one direction to Ulava and Sikiana in the other.

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The mothers and children were put to work at the new machines.

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When he was ten years old his father was imprisoned for debt (like Micawber, in the Marshalsea prison), and he was put to work in the cellar of a London shoe-blacking factory.

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They are put to work when young, and they stay put.

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After many days on the schooner, and after beholding more land and islands than he had ever dreamed of, he was landed on New Georgia, and put to work in the field clearing jungle and cutting cane grass.

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I have been slighted, and taught nothing, and thrown upon myself, and put to work not fit for me.

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SBRC's serious organised crime and counter terrorism lead David MacCrimmon, seconded from Police Scotland, believes criminal gangs could infiltrate businesses in Airdrie and Coatbridge and make money from people they put to work.

Human trafficking warning

Even if her tone was sincere, the dangers sensed by her opponents is that co-operation on any issue in Scotland is quickly purloined by the SNP and put to work in the cause of independence.