Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A piece of work assigned or done as part of one's duties.
  • noun A difficult or tedious undertaking.
  • noun A function to be performed; an objective.
  • transitive verb To assign a task to or impose a task on.
  • transitive verb Archaic To subject to strain or hardship.
  • idiom (take/call) /bring) To reprimand or censure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To tax; charge.
  • To take to task; charge with something.
  • To impose a task upon; assign a definite amount of labor to.
  • To oppress with severe or excessive labor or exertion; occupy or engage fully, as in a task; burden.
  • noun A tax; an assessment; an impost.
  • noun Labor imposed; especially, a definite quantity or amount of labor; work to be done; one's stint; that which duty or necessity imposes; duty, or duties collectively.
  • noun Specifically A lesson to be learned; a portion of study imposed by a teacher.
  • noun Work undertaken; an undertaking.
  • noun Burdensome employment; toil.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To impose a task upon; to assign a definite amount of business, labor, or duty to.
  • transitive verb To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
  • transitive verb To charge; to tax, as with a fault.
  • noun Labor or study imposed by another, often in a definite quantity or amount.
  • noun Business; employment; undertaking; labor.
  • noun See under Take.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.
  • noun A difficult or tedious undertaking.
  • noun An objective.
  • noun computing A process or execution of a program.
  • verb transitive To assign a task to, or impose a task on.
  • verb To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
  • verb To charge, as with a fault.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb assign a task to
  • verb use to the limit
  • noun any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
  • noun a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English taske, imposed work, tax, from Old North French tasque, from Vulgar Latin *tasca, alteration of *taxa, from Latin taxāre, to feel, reproach, reckon; see tax.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Northern French tasque, variant of Old French tasche, from Medieval Latin tasca, alteration of taxa, from Latin taxāre ("censure, charge").

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Examples

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  • Sample.

    January 27, 2010