(idiomatic) Being planned or worked upon.
They always have some wonderful new project in the works.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: In a mechanism or machine.
Be careful not to get any debris in the works.
The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill. Franz Liszt
The whole drive of western culture, the part of it which is serious, is towards an extreme objectification. It's carried to the point where the human subject is treated almost as if it's dirt in the works of a watch. Henry Flynt
Contempt for women is inscribed in the works of Saint Paul. Ayaan Hirsi Ali
My reasoning, if one can call it that, was inflamed by the scatter shot passions of youth and a literary diet overly rich in the works of Nietzshe, Kerouac, and John Menlove Edwards... Jon Krakauer
Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians. Mortimer Adler