labour
see also: Labour
Pronunciation Etymology 1
Labour
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
see also: Labour
Pronunciation Etymology 1
From Middle English labor, labour, labur, from Old French labor (modern labeur) and its etymon, Latin labor.
Nounlabour (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC ↗, page 78 ↗:
- […] So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth; for it was a looſe ſandy Rock, which yielded eaſily to the Labour I beſtowed on it […]
- That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
- 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the page):
- Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
- (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, pages 364–365 ↗:
- In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
- (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- (medicine, obstetrics) The act of a mother giving birth.
- The time period during which a mother gives birth.
- (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
- (historical) A traditional unit of area in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to 177.1 acres or 71.67 ha.
- (uncommon, zoology) A group of moles.
- laborious
- laboural
- French: effort, travail
- German: Arbeit
- Italian: lavoro
- Portuguese: trabalho, labuta
- Russian: труд
- Spanish: trabajo
- French: travailleurs, ouvriers
- German: Arbeiter
- Italian: lavoratori, lavoranti
- Portuguese: mão-de-obra
- Russian: рабо́чий класс
- Spanish: campesinos, trabajadores
- French: travaillistes, parti travailliste
- French: accouchement, travail
- German: Wehen
- Italian: parto, travaglio, doglie, travaglio
- Portuguese: parto
- Russian: ро́ды
- Spanish: parto
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare, from labor ("labor, toil, work, exertion"); perhaps remotely akin to robur ("strength").
Verblabour (labours, present participle labouring; simple past and past participle laboured) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- (intransitive) To toil, to work.
- (transitive) To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
- I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
- To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
- 1726, George Granville, Love:
- the stone that labours up the hill
- 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC ↗:
- The line too labours, and the words move slow.
- 1821 January 7, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗:
- to cure the disorder under which he laboured
- To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
- (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
- French: travailler
- German: arbeiten
- Italian: lavorare
- Portuguese: trabalhar
- Russian: труди́ться
- Spanish: trabajar
Labour
Proper noun
- (UK, NZ) Short for the Labour Party.
- (UK, Canada) Misspelling of Labor, an Australian political party.
- (UK politics, NZ politics) Liebour (derogatory, internet slang)
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
