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ng the strength of Hercules; hence, very great, difficult, or dangerous; as, an Herculean task.

cmena, and celebrated for great strength, esp. for the accomplishment of his twelve great tasks or "labors."

Dictated by, or indicating, ill nature; spiteful. "The ill-natured task refuse." Addison.

le or troublesome by reason of long continuance or repetition; as, irksome hours; irksome tasks. For not to irksome toil, but to delight, He made us. Milton.

overdriving or long-continued labor of any kind; to tire or wear out by severe or tedious tasks; to harass. The mind, once jaded by an attempt above its power, . . . checks at any vigorous undertaking ever after. Locke.

Easy to be endured or performed; not severe; not difficult; as, a light affliction or task. Chaucer. Light sufferings give us leisure to complain. Dryden.

Fig.: A return to first principles; an orderly arrangement. The task of orientation undertaken in this chapter. L. F. Ward.

To overtask. or overtax; to fatigue; to exhaust; as, to overdo one's strength.

To tax or to task too heavily.

-- a sense originating in the mistaken notion that the palate is the organ of taste. Hard task! to hit the palate of such guests. Pope.

diligently, as one who pegs shoes; -- usually with on, at, or away; as, to peg away at a task.

pirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world. Coleridge. a piece of cake, a task easily accomplished. a piece of work, a disparaging term for a person considered to have an excess of some undesirable quality; esp. difficult or eccentric person. Piece of ass vulgar term for a woman, considered as a partner…

To practice or perform with diligence; to work at. Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply. Waller.

mise these particulars that the reader may know that I enter upon it as a very ungrateful task. Addison.

g into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed. Bacon. Our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers. Milton.

, as of an instrument of labor; as, to put the hand to the plow; hence, to engage in (any task or affair); as, to put one's hand to the work.

Dissolute; lewd; debauched. The arduous task of converting a rakish lover. Macaulay.

A task of a wild boar. Razor fish. (Zoöl.) (a) A small Mediterranean fish (Coryphæna novacula), prized for the table. (b) The razor shell. -- Razor grass (Bot.), a West Indian plant (Scleria scindens), the triangular stem and the leaves of which are edged with minute sharp teeth. -- Razor grinder (Zoöl.), the Europea…

sm; -- sometimes in a good sense; as, to relapse into slumber after being disturbed. That task performed, [preachers] relapse into themselves. Cowper.

A series of duties or tasks which must be performed in turn, and then repeated. the trivial round, the common task. Keble.