proper job

plural proper jobs

1. UKWest CountrySomething performed well.

   You did a proper job on that one, me lover.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see proper, job. (respectable employment, etc.)

   The three main party political leaders have at times been accused of failing the proper job test. They are perceived to be career politicians who have done nothing outside media or politics.

   2012 July 11, Tom de Castella, “Should everyone have done a 'proper job'?”, in BBC News, retrieved 20 Nov 2014

   1 more example

   She'd go out begging. Well, truth to tell, we'd go out begging. You know the deal — 'Got any spare change, mister?' — 'Got the price of a cuppa, missus?' Only, me being the size I was, even as a kid, I wasn't much good at it.¶ 'Get a proper job,' they'd say to me. 'Get a job down the mines.' Or the building site. The worst one was, 'What's the matter, you run away from the circus?'

   1998, Liza Cody, Monkey Wrench, →ISBN, page 88

1. UKWest CountryGood work; well done.

   "I've painted the fence." "Proper job!"

   Synonyms: well done