Meaning

noun a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked

verb exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity

verb be employed

originFrom Middle English workyng, wirkynge, worchinge, werchinge, workinde, wirkand, worchende, wurchende, from Old English wyrċende, from Proto-Germanic *wurkijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), equivalent to work + -ing. Compare Scots wirkand, werkand, warkand (“working”), Dutch werkend (“working, acting”), German wirkend (“acting, working”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0