Definition of "to set to work" [to set to work]

• (verb-transitive)
• To employ; to cause to engage in any business or labor. (noun)

Gnu Collaboartive International Dictionary of English: licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

• "The river was past fording, and Confederate detachments under the eyes of Jackson's former quartermaster, Major J. A. Harmon, had to set to work building pontoons."
• "As soon as I am at Croisset, I shall begin the article about my poor Bouilhet, a painful and sad task which I am in a hurry to finish, so as to set to work at Saint - Antoine."