belabour
English
Alternative forms
- belabor (US)
Etymology
From be- (“about, around”) + labour. Compare bework, betoil, beswink.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bɪˈleɪ.bə/
- Rhymes: -eɪbə(r)
Verb
belabour (third-person singular simple present belabours, present participle belabouring, simple past and past participle belaboured)
- (transitive) To labour about; labour over; work hard upon; ply diligently.
- (British spelling, transitive) To beat soundly; thump; beat someone.
- 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
- He saw the village; he was seen coming bending forward upon his horse, belabouring it with great blows, the girths dripping with blood.
- 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
- (British spelling, transitive) To attack someone verbally.
- (British spelling, transitive) To discuss something repeatedly; to harp on.
- 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, inaugural speech
- Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us.
- 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, inaugural speech
Translations
To attack someone verbally