Word.ws English Dictionary

sank work

sank work noun: work done by tailors on soldiers' clothes.

Noun

sank work (uncountable)

  1. (UK, historical) Work done by tailors on soldiers' clothes.
    • […] even some of the 'honourable' men were reduced to this sweated 'sank work' for as little as 4s. to 6s. a week.2002, John Burnett, Idle Hands: The Experience of Unemployment, 1790-1990, page 84
    • Many master tailors keep more hands than they have employment for, especially in the slack. But no work means no pay. Some of those journeymen can't pay their bills and take home 'sank work' of custom-house and post clothing.2017, Darlene A. Cypser, The Consulting Detective Trilogy Part II: On Stage, page 48

Origin of sank work

Perhaps from the Old French sanc (“blood”), in allusion either to combat or to soldiers' red coats.

Questions about sank work

What does sank work mean?
Sank work means work done by tailors on soldiers' clothes.
What part of speech is sank work?
Sank work is a noun.

Words near sank work in the dictionary

  1. Sanjurjos
  2. Sanjō
  3. sank
  4. sank in
  5. sank or swam
  6. sank work
  7. sank you
  8. Sanka
  9. Sankalp
  10. Sankar
  11. Sankara

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sank work (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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