labourer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/

Noun

labourer (plural labourers)

1. British standard spelling of laborer.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.

Anagrams

• rubeolar

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French

Etymology

From Middle French labourer, from Old French laborer, borrowed from Latin labōrāre, present active infinitive of labōrō. Replaced the Old French arer (“to plough”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la.bu.ʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

labourer

1. (transitive) to plough

Conjugation

Conjugation of labourer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	labourer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	labourant /la.bu.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		labouré /la.bu.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	laboure /la.buʁ/	laboures /la.buʁ/	laboure /la.buʁ/	labourons /la.bu.ʁɔ̃/	labourez /la.bu.ʁe/	labourent /la.buʁ/
	imperfect	labourais /la.bu.ʁɛ/	labourais /la.bu.ʁɛ/	labourait /la.bu.ʁɛ/	labourions /la.bu.ʁjɔ̃/	labouriez /la.bu.ʁje/	labouraient /la.bu.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	labourai /la.bu.ʁe/	labouras /la.bu.ʁa/	laboura /la.bu.ʁa/	labourâmes /la.bu.ʁam/	labourâtes /la.bu.ʁat/	labourèrent /la.bu.ʁɛʁ/
	future	labourerai /la.bu.ʁə.ʁe/	laboureras /la.bu.ʁə.ʁa/	labourera /la.bu.ʁə.ʁa/	labourerons /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	labourerez /la.bu.ʁə.ʁe/	laboureront /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	labourerais /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/	labourerais /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/	labourerait /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/	labourerions /la.bu.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	laboureriez /la.bu.ʁə.ʁje/	laboureraient /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	laboure /la.buʁ/	laboures /la.buʁ/	laboure /la.buʁ/	labourions /la.bu.ʁjɔ̃/	labouriez /la.bu.ʁje/	labourent /la.buʁ/
	imperfect2	labourasse /la.bu.ʁas/	labourasses /la.bu.ʁas/	labourât /la.bu.ʁa/	labourassions /la.bu.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	labourassiez /la.bu.ʁa.sje/	labourassent /la.bu.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	laboure /la.buʁ/	—	labourons /la.bu.ʁɔ̃/	labourez /la.bu.ʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• labourage
• laboureur

Further reading

• “labourer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French laborer.

Verb

labourer

1. to work (to do work); to labor
2. to manufacture; to make (in a work context)
   • 15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, pages 15, lines 5-6:

     Et si labourent draps d'or et de soie et de toutes façons trés beaux.

     And they manufacture cloths of gold and of silk which are in all ways very beautiful.

Descendants

• French: labourer

References

• labourer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)