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3. set to work

set to work

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set someone or something to work

to start someone or something working; to cause someone or something to begin functioning. The captain set everyone to work repairing the tears in the fabric of the sails. We will set the machines to work at the regular time.

See also: set, work

set to work (on someone or something)

to begin working on someone or something. We have finished questioning Tom, so we will set to work on Fred. We set to work on dinner at noon.

See also: set, work

set to work

to begin doing something They set to work bringing order to an organization that didn't even know how many computers it had. She pulled out her brushes and paper and set to work making a studio out of her hotel room.

See also: set, work