ORDER OF SENSES

The order of senses within an entry is historical: the sense known to have been first used in English is entered first. This is not to be taken to mean, however, that each sense of a multisense word developed from the immediately preceding sense. It is altogether possible that sense 1 of a word has given rise to sense 2 and sense 2 to sense 3, but frequently sense 2 and sense 3 may have arisen independently of one another from sense 1.

When a numbered sense is further subdivided into lettered subsenses, the inclusion of particular subsenses within a sense is based upon their semantic relationship to one another, but their order is likewise historical: subsense 1a is earlier than 1b, 1b is earlier than 1c, and so forth. Divisions of subsenses indicated by lightface numerals in parentheses are also in historical order with respect to one another. Subsenses may be out of historical order, however, with respect to the broader numbered senses:

Main Entry: ¹job
Function: noun
Date: circa 1627
1 a : a piece of work; especially : a small miscellaneous piece of work undertaken on order at a stated rate b : the object or material on which work is being done c : something produced by or as if by work <do a better job next time> d : an example of a usually specified type : item <this job is round-necked and sleeveless --Lois Long>
2 a : something done for private advantage <suspected the whole incident was a put-up job> b : a criminal enterprise; specifically : robbery c : a damaging or destructive bit of work <did a job on him>
3 a (1) : something that has to be done : task (2) : an undertaking requiring unusual exertion <it was a real job to talk over that noise> b : a specific duty, role, or function c : a regular remunerative position d chiefly British : state of affairs -- used with bad or good <it was a good job you didn't hit the old man --E. L. Thomas>

At job the date indicates that the earliest unit of meaning, sense 1a, was born in the 17th century, and it is readily apparent how the following subsenses are linked to it and to each other by the idea of work. Even subsense 1d is so linked, because while it does not apply exclusively to manufactured items, it often does so, as the illustrative quotation suggests. Yet 1d did not exist before the 1920s, while 2a and 3a(1) both belong to the 17th century, although they are later than 1a. Even the very last subsense, 3d, is earlier than 1d, as it is found in the works of Dickens.

Historical order also determines whether transitive or intransitive senses are given first at verbs which have both kinds. If the earliest sense is transitive, all the transitive senses precede all the intransitive senses.

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