Labor

See also: labor

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Etymology 1

Proper noun

Labor

1. (Australian politics, informal) The Australian Labor Party.
   • 1970, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Institute of Pacific Relations, Australia and the Pacific, page 10:

     Nevertheless there is a distinct difference of emphasis, in the sense just indicated, between the two sides of Australian politics. There has always been some international isolationism, too, in Labor circles in Australia.

   • 1984, David Harris Solomon, Australia′s Government and Parliament, page 102:

     Labor did not regain office until 1929, and then only for a three-year period.

   • 1995, Brian Galligan, A Federal Republic: Australia′s Constitutional System of Government, page 109:

     Labor’s formal reconciliation with the federal Constitution during the postwar decades has been a significant development both for the ALP and for Australian politics generally.

2. (UK politics, American spelling, Australian spelling) Misspelling of Labour. (UK political party)

Usage notes

While it is standard practice in Australia to spell the word labour with the letter U, the political party's name is spelled with no U. Although the "American spelling" has been used officially since the early 20th century, some sources continued to use "Labour" for several decades. The absence of the letter "u" is due to the influence of King O'Malley, an American-born politician who was a prominent figure in the Labor Party. A similar phenomenon of proper nouns using American spelling when traditionally using British spelling when used as common nouns occurs in the naming of several South Australian places, most notably Victor Harbor, which is still often spelt as Victor Harbour (for example the town's railway station is spelt as Victor Harbour).

Etymology 2

Variant of Labarre.

Proper noun

Labor (plural Labors)

1. A surname from French.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Labor is the 35489^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 634 individuals. Labor is most common among White (67.35%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Labor”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 374.

Anagrams

• Albor, Albro, Balor, Bolar, bolar, boral, lobar

German

Etymology

Clipping of Laboratorium, from Latin labōrātōrium.

Pronunciation

• (Germany) IPA^(key): [laˈboːɐ̯]

  • Audio

    (file)

• (Austria) IPA^(key): [ˈlaːboːɐ̯]
• (Switzerland) IPA^(key): [ˈlaːboːʁ]
• Rhymes: -oːɐ̯

Noun

Labor n (strong, genitive Labors, plural Labors or Labore)

1. laboratory

Usage notes

• As a shortened form, Labor is equivalent to English lab, but unlike the latter it is not informal anymore. In fact, the full form Laboratorium is dated.
• The preferred plural is Labors, but Labore has gained ground in recent years. It may already be the more common form in speech.

Declension

Declension of Labor [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Labor	die	Labors, Labore
genitive	eines	des	Labors	der	Labors, Labore
dative	einem	dem	Labor	den	Labors, Laboren
accusative	ein	das	Labor	die	Labors, Labore

Derived terms

• Forschungslabor

Derived terms

• Laborant
• Labormaßstab
• Laborratte

Further reading

• “Labor” in Duden online
• “Labor” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache