Etymology Dictionary

JOB (1),  to peck with the beak, as a bird.  (C.?)   'Becquade, a pecke, job, or bob with the beake;' Cot.   'Iobbyn wythe the bylle' = to job with the beak; Prompt. Parv.   Prob. of Celtic origin; from Irish and Gael. gob, the beak or bill of a bird; W. gwp, a bird's head and neck.   For the change of g to j, see Job (2).   ¶ The use as a verb may have been suggested by the verb to chop.

JOB (2),  a small piece of work.  (F.,—C.)   In Pope, Epilogue to Satires, i. 104; ii. 40; Donne versified, Sat. iv. 142.   He also has the verb; 'And judges job,' Moral Essays, to Bathurst, 141.   Spelt jobb in Kersey, ed. 1715.   Also spelt gob.   'Gob, a portion, a lump; hence the phrase, to work by the gob;' Halliwell.   Dimin. forms are seen in:  'Gobbet, a morsel, a bit; a large block of stone is still called a gobbet by workmen;' Halliwell.   'Jobbel, Jobbet, a small load, generally of hay or straw, Oxfordshire;' id.   In earlier authors, only gobbet is found; M.E. gobet, Chaucer, C. T. 698.—O.F. gob, lit. a mouthful.   'L'avalla tout de gob, at one gulp, or as one gobbet, he swallowed it;' Cot.   Cf. gober, 'to ravine, devoure, swallow great morsels, let down whole gobbets;' Cot.   β. Of Celtic origin; cf. Celt. and Irish gob, the bill or beak of a bird, also, ludicrously, the mouth.   Thus a job is a mouthful, morsel, bit; we use bit in the same way.   See Gobbet, and Job (1).   Der. job, verb; jobb-er, jobb-er-y.