labour
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[edit] English
[edit] Alternative forms
- labor (US)
[edit] Etymology
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”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
labour (countable and uncountable; plural labours) (British)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- (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.
[edit] Usage notes
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 enshrined in the name of the Australian Labor Party, reflecting the fact that the -or endings had some currency in Australia in the past.
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Verb
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured)
- (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.
[edit] Translations
[edit] Related terms
[edit] External links
- 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
[edit] Anglo-Norman
[edit] Noun
labour m. (oblique plural labours, nominative singular labours, nominative plural labour)
- Late Anglo-Norman spelling of labur
[edit] Breton
[edit] Noun
labour
[edit] French
[edit] Noun
labour m. (plural labours)
[edit] Related terms
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English nouns
- British English forms
- English uncountable nouns
- English verbs
- Anglo-Norman nouns
- Anglo-Norman masculine nouns
- Anglo-Norman alternative forms
- Breton nouns
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
