#625. Business. -- N. business, occupation, employment; pursuit &c. 622; what one is doing, what one is about; affair, concern, matter, case.
matter in hand, irons in the fire; thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore [U.S.], errand, commission, mission, charge, care; duty &c. 926.
part, role, cue; province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line; walk, walk of life; beat, round, routine; race, career.
office, place, post, chargeship[obs], incumbency, living; situation, berth, employ; service &c. (servitude) 749; engagement; undertaking &c. 676.
vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty; industry, art; industrial arts; craft, mystery, handicraft; trade &c. (commerce) 794.
exercise; work &c. (action) 680; avocation; press of business &c. (activity) 682.
V. pass one's time in, employ one's time in, spend one's time in; employ oneself in, employ oneself upon; occupy oneself with, concern oneself with; make it one's business &c. n.; undertake &c. 676; enter a profession; betake oneself to, turn one's hand to; have to do with &c. (do) 680.
office, place, post, chargeship[obs], incumbency, living; situation, berth, employ; service &c. (servitude) 749; engagement; undertaking &c. 676.
drive a trade; carry on a trade, do a trade, transact a trade, carry on business, do business, transact business &c. n.; keep a shop; ply one's task, ply one's trade; labor in one's vocation; pursue the even tenor of one's way; attend to business, attend to one's work.
officiate, serve, act; act one's part, play one's part; do duty; serve the office of, discharge the office of, perform the office of, perform the duties of, perform the functions of; hold an office, fill an office, fill a place, fill a situation; hold a portfolio, hold a place, hold a situation.
be about, be doing, be engaged in, be employed in, be occupied with, be at work on; have one's hands in, have in hand; have on one's hands, have on one's shoulders; bear the burden; have one's hands full &c. (activity) 682.
be in the hands of, be on the stocks, be on the anvil; pass through one's hands.
Adj. businesslike; workaday; professional; official, functional; busy &c. (actively employed) 682; on hand, in hand, in one's hands; afoot; on foot, on the anvil; going on; acting.
Adv. in the course of business, all in one's day's work; professionally &c. Adj.
Phr. "a business with an income at its heels" [Cowper]; amoto quaeramus seria ludo [Lat][Horace]; par negotiis neque supra [Lat][Tacitus].