labour
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- labor (US)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare (“(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert onself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate”), from labor (“labor, toil, work, exertion”); perhaps remotely akin to robur (“strength”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour (countable and uncountable; plural labours) (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- ...so I set myself to enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it...
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
- (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- The act of a mother giving birth.
- The time period during which a mother gives birth.
Usage notes[edit]
Like many other words ending in -our/-or, this word is spelled labour in the UK and labor in the U.S.; in Canada, labour is preferred, but labor is not unknown. In Australia, where labour is the usual spelling, labor is nonetheless used in the name of the Australian Labor Party, reflecting the fact that the -or endings had some currency in Australia in the past.
- Adjectives often used with "labour": physical, mental, technical, organised.
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured) (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
- (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.
Translations[edit]
Related terms[edit]
External links[edit]
- labour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- labour in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- labour at OneLook Dictionary Search
Breton[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour
French[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour m (plural labours)
Related terms[edit]
Old French[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour m (oblique plural labours, nominative singular labours, nominative plural labour)
- Late Anglo-Norman spelling of labur
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- British English
- Australian English
- New Zealand English
- Canadian English
- English verbs
- Breton nouns
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Old French alternative forms
