labour
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare (“(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert oneself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate”), from labor (“labor, toil, work, exertion”); perhaps remotely akin to robur (“strength”). Displaced native English swink (“toil, labor”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bə/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bɚ/
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)
Noun[edit]
labour (countable and uncountable, plural labours) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- 1719 April 25, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407, 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, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- (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 4293071, 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.
- 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.
- An old measure of land area in Mexico and Texas, approximately 177 acres.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)
Usage notes[edit]
Like many others 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, labour is the standard spelling, but the Australian Labour Party, founded 1908, "modernised" its spelling to Australian Labor Party in 1912, at the suggestion of American-born King O'Malley, who was a prominent leader in the ALP.
- Adjectives often used with "labour": physical, mental, skilled, technical, organised.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- labour-intensive
- (The act of a mother giving birth): labour pain
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- (intransitive) To toil, to work.
- 1961 May, “Beattock Interlude”, in Trains Illustrated, page 287, photo caption:
- "Crab" 2-6-0 No 42802 labours up to Beattock Summit with a northbound freight from Carlisle in August 1960.
- (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
- 1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: Printed for W. Lewis […], published 1711, OCLC 15810849:
- The line too labours, and the words move slow.
- 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, Edinburgh; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 277979407:
- to cure the disorder under which he laboured
- 1726, George Granville, Love
- To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
- (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Further reading[edit]
- labour in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- labour in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- labour at OneLook Dictionary Search
- "labour" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 176.
Breton[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Deverbal of labourer. See also labeur.
Noun[edit]
labour m (plural labours)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “labour” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Old French[edit]
Noun[edit]
labour m (oblique plural labours, nominative singular labours, nominative plural labour)
- (late Anglo-Norman) Alternative spelling of labur
Noun[edit]
labour
- nominative plural of labour
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Nautical
- English verbs
- British English forms
- Canadian English forms
- Australian English forms
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- Breton lemmas
- Breton nouns
- French deverbals
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Anglo-Norman Old French
- Old French non-lemma forms
- Old French noun forms