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wet work

English

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wet work¹

Where it comes from

Calque of Russian мо́крое де́ло (mókroje délo).

noun wetwork

  1. euphemistic, uncountable A covert assassination performed by government operatives. Joe: Victoria was the best wet work operator the Agency ever had. Woman 1: What does that mean? Victoria: I killed people, dearie.
  2. broadly, uncountable Work within a gang or organization that involves killing or attacking people, for assassination or intimidation. He had also done a lot of Louis Deems' wet work, especially when it came to intimidating juries.

wet work²

Where it comes from

wet + work

noun wet work · wetwork

  1. Cleaning tasks that involve scrubbing with cleansers. Most of the time I clean with A.J. or another coworker, who vacuums while I do the wet work—bathrooms and kitchens.

Translations

Every language

noun covert assassination

Русскиймо́крое де́ло mókroje délo

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MLA

"wet work." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wet%20work. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

wet work. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wet%20work

Chicago

"wet work." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wet%20work.

BibTeX
@misc{wet_work_2026,
  title = {wet work},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wet%20work},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}