labor

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

labor

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• labour (non-American spelling)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.bɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)

Noun

labor (countable and uncountable, plural labors)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of labour

Derived terms

Related terms

• laboral
• laborious

Verb

labor (third-person singular simple present labors, present participle laboring, simple past and past participle labored)

1. US standard spelling of labour.

Anagrams

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

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

labor m (plural labors)

1. labour, work

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Labor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: la‧bor

Noun

labor (plural laborok)

1. (informal) lab, laboratory

   Synonym: laboratórium

Declension

References

Latin

Etymology 1

From Old Latin labōs, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *lebʰ- (“to seize, take”), whence Sanskrit लभते (labhate, “take, gain”) and Lithuanian lõbis (“wealth”). More commonly connected with labō (“I totter”) (see Etymology 2 below), but this is rejected by de Vaan, who however provides no alternative. The semantic connection is weak in either case.

Alternative forms

• labōs

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/,

Noun

labor m (genitive labōris); third declension

2. work
3. labor, toil, exertion

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, opera, cūra, mōlīmen, intēnsiō, mōlēs, pulvis

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.641–642:

     rege Numa, frūctū nōn respondente labōrī,
     inrita dēceptī vōta colentīs erant

     When Numa was king, the produce not responding to the labor,
     prayers were ineffective, the farmer deceived

4. (chiefly poetic) hardship, trouble, fatigue, suffering, drudgery, distress
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.28:

     Labore operis incitati

     Incited by the fatigue of the work

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.384–385:

     et mediae tempora noctis erant, iam ducibus somnum dederat labor

     It was midnight, and by now their fatigue had given the leaders sleep.

5. illness

   Synonyms: aegritūdō, morbus, malum, pestis, incommodum, valētūdō, infirmitas

   Antonyms: salūs, valētūdō

6. the pain accompanying childbirth, labor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

• labōrō
• ēlabōrō

Descendants

Etymology 2

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to hang loosely, be weak”), and cognate with labō, English sleep, Proto-Slavic *slàbъ (“weak”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlaː.bor/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/,

Verb

lābor (present infinitive lābī, perfect active lāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent

2. to slip, slide, glide
3. to fall, sink down
4. to slip, stumble
5. to vanish, pass away, elapse, escape

   Synonyms: fugiō, effugiō, ēvādō, refugiō, cōnfugiō, diffugiō, aufugiō, prōfugiō, āvolō, ēripiō, ēlābor

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.771–772:

     Tempora lābuntur, tacitīsque senēscimus annīs,
     et fugiunt frēnō nōn remorante diēs.

     Times pass away, and with years unnoticed we grow old, and days flee with no bridle holding back.

7. to be mistaken, be wrong, err, commit a fault

   Synonyms: dēlinquō, errō, committō, offendō

Conjugation

This verb takes the future passive participle lābundus instead of *lābendus.

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: lapse

References

• “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• labor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to exert oneself very energetically in a matter: multum operae ac laboris consumere in aliqua re
    
  • the matter involves much labour and fatigue: res est multi laboris et sudoris
    
  • to spare no pains: labori, operae non parcere
    
  • not to leave off work for an instant: nullum tempus a labore intermittere
    
  • to spare oneself the trouble of the voyage: labore supersedēre (itineris) (Fam. 4. 2. 4)
    
  • capable of exertion: patiens laboris
    
  • lazy: fugiens laboris
    
  • to take a false step: per errorem labi, or simply labi
    
  • to make a slip of the memory: memoriā labi
    
  • to make a mistake in writing: labi in scribendo
    
  • immorality is daily gaining ground: mores in dies magis labuntur (also with ad, e.g. ad mollitiem)
    
  • (ambiguous) to drain the cup of sorrow: omnes labores exanclare
    
  • (ambiguous) rest after toil is sweet: acti labores iucundi (proverb.)
    
• labor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

References

Anagrams

• albor, labrō

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laˈboɾ/
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: la‧bor

Noun

labor f (plural labores)

1. labor
2. job, task, chore

   Synonyms: tarea, quehacer

3. work, effort

   Synonyms: trabajo, obra

4. needlework, embroidery

   Synonyms: costura, bordado

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “labor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014